Precious
by JenniClouds
Summary: Tsuna finally meets the king; the man that plagued his mind ever since he was little but something's wrong.As he starts to know the king, he keeps calling Tsuna "Patience". Just who is she and why is he so obsessed with that girl? Rewritten.
1. Chapter 1

Hey! hahah, well this is another one of my stories and yeah, please R&R (for free cookies)! :D

This is unbeta-ed so, it might have some mistakes.. so please telll me if you see something out of place ^^;

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR, just the plot ^^

**Warning: This plot will start to get very confusing =_=**

* * *

Italy was a country full of vast lands and castle grounds that was inhabited by royalty and loyal peasants. Yes, Italy was like any other that was ruled by monarchy. And yet, they have proven to be different by just a few things. For example, the clear rivers that flowed through the country were solely for catching fish and other various sea creatures and the water that the subjects drank had to be pulled up from the wells near their houses or villages. Not to mention that the king's hunting grounds weren't actually hunting grounds, for his majesty had completely cast it aside and had allowed hunger-driven people to feast on his precious animals. Day after day, a small feast would occur with at least one of the peasants catching a large piece of fish or game. Italy was different for the king was a man of very few words and commands.

Speaking of the king, he was a young man, no older than 25 and was usually seen lounging about his palace in a bored manner. He neglected most of his paper work and only signed ones that managed to catch his attention. That was the kind of man the king was. No one could blame him though, since he was the king, after all. What made the monarch stand out though, was not his lazy personality, but rather his odd appearance. No one had ever seen a man with such cold eyes, nor had they ever seen someone with sideburns that curled up at the end. But even that wasn't what set the ruler apart from others, no not at all. It was the fact that he was seemingly obsessed and infatuated with a mere villager that upset all of the noblemen that knew about it.

The villager that the king was in love with knew as much about the king as the rest of the villagers. Yet, he was much more _intrigued _by said ruler and had found himself pondering day and night about the raven haired king. His parents had told him that when word about his birth had reached the monarch's ear, he had personally arrived to their run-down village and had taken a long, hard stare at him before humming in satisfaction. They had stated that that was the only time his parents had seen the king so happy ever since he came to power. That's what the lowly villager wanted to know more about. If the king was so happy that he had been born, then why had he abandoned his duties and even went as far as neglecting all the villages these years, even when there was a flood that could have endangered all of his loyal subjects?

Unknowingly, the king had become the young boy's obsession. He had heard many stories of the other and every time he had some spare time on his hands, always found himself thinking about the monarch.

Who was this young boy, you ask? Well, let me enlighten you.

In the village of lived a boy named Tsunayoshi (but preferred to be called Tsuna) who stayed with his parents at a ranch that provided Italy's markets with fresh meat and vegetables. He had the brightest personality for a young man and had more of his mother's looks, auburn eyes and light brown hair. Though their family was a poor family, they would never steal, lie, or cause any misfortune to the rest of the villagers. This was something that he had learned as a child and had lived by. Tsuna helped around the village everyday and always volunteered to help bring the month's products to the markets.

At the age of five, Tsuna had learned how to peacefully walk through the busy village as he made his way to his friend's small house, on his own. He swung one hand back and forth leisurely as chubby fingers wound around the handle of a small basket. He even remembered to walk around the small puddles just as his mom had taught him. Once he reached his destination, Tsuna gently placed the basket on the floor and with both his hands, pushed open the door.

He was greeted with his best and only friend, Kyoko, a young girl who was about his age that sported light brown almost dark orange hair. Yellow eyes were cast in his direction as he gave a feeble wave. Kyoko giggled and returned the wave, rocking back and forth playfully as she waited for Tsuna to retrieve his basket, "Ne, ne, Tsuna. The king is coming!"

"Eh? The king?"

"Yep!" Kyoko giggled again, covering her mouth, "He's coming back."

"Does that mean we have to get weady?" Even at such an age, Tsuna still had trouble pronouncing his R's. His friend only nodded and got up from her spot on the cold floor.

"We can bring Nuts with us too. He always wanted to see the king." Kyoko stated, bringing out a stuffed lion from her bedroom. Tsuna nodded held out his small basket so that she could place the animal in.

"Okay." he grinned toothily.

They both knew they were lying about the king's arrival, they just didn't know what it was called at that age so they settled with 'making it up'. Hell, the king probably forgot about all the children he had ever met in his entire life. But still, they hoped with their childish innocence because that was all they could do. The duo spent the rest of the afternoon, skipping through the meadow just on the borderline of their once nameless village with their small basket and toy. They grew tired of that by the end of the day.

By the age of eight, Tsuna had learned all he possibly could about the king from people around him and still wanted to learn more. He had even pestered Kyoko about it, despite her being the same age as him and the fact that she wasn't even born when he was visited by the ruler. Tsuna wanted to know more. What was his name? How old was he when he came into power? How old is he now? Why didn't he help the village in times of need and let them just hunt what they wanted? Why didn't he use his hunting grounds for his own selfish needs? The list was endless and yet he had no one who had the answer. No one but the king himself.

Tsuna made it his ambition to one day meet the king.

When Tsuna was barely thirteen, a flood had occurred throughout the entire country but had affected them the most, seeing as they were one of the more financially poorest villages there. He had been busy running around from house to house, checking every corner and tile on the floor to see if there had been any children stuck by themselves. Thankfully, there were none but now they were stuck with the aftermath of the flood. The water was long gone and the people were stunned in its wake. Tsuna didn't mind helping out all too much since he had been raised that way, but he was rather agitated by the fact that the king had not given any sign of help towards them. At the end of the disaster, his mind was only focused on the ruler.

That was three years ago and now Tsuna stood to be a bright teenager who had probably worked his entire life. Kyoko was still his best friend and they still played with Nuts, the baby lion. Not much had changed since then, and Tsuna still found himself thinking about the king every now and then. Okay, maybe that was an understatement. The king plagued his thoughts, night and day even with the limited information that he had. Nonetheless, he still aided in his dad's work to sell crops and whatnot every three days and any eggs, pork, beef, chicken, turkey, and ducks necessary every week to Italy's markets.

This time though, something had happened in his peaceful little village and they were all forced to stay in their own homes. Outside stood no more than 8 men, all armed in heavy duty armour and helmets that held the king's emblem. Seated on their muscular stallions, their eyes darted left and right, though their heads remained almost motionless. Tsuna stared at them through the small window and turned to his mom,  
"Okaa-san, what are those people doing out there? Are they going to be okay?" he asked and his mom shook her head,  
"Honey, they're fine. The ones who might not be okay are us. They've come to collect taxes but they won't let us through to Italy's borders to sell the rest of our crops to get the money." She pulled her son in for a hug, "To think you're already 17... We can't have them take you away for labour so you stay here and wait for me okay?" Tsuna nodded, as he witnessed his mom stepping out of the house and into the open field where the guards all were. She stood up to their chest and looked at them in the eye, her hands wrenching at each other behind her back most likely out of nervousness. They seemed to be negotiating something although it was sort of one sided seeing as the guards didn't even look all that interested in the entire conversation.

His eyes widened as one of the guards took his mom by the arm and roughly shoved her backwards. He ran out of his house without a second thought,  
"Stop! What are you doing to my kaa-san?" Tsuna yelled as he helped his mom up from the ground. One of the guards turned to him,  
"His majesty demands that the taxes are to be paid. No one gets out of this village and no one gets in before we collect the taxes." Tsuna looked at them,  
"But we already said that we need to sell the crops before we can give you the money! Can you please just wait for an hour or so?" The guards looked at each other and nodded.

Tsuna's father went back behind the small barn just by the gate and rolled out a tipping cart made out of wood and loaded with fresh corn, peas, lettuce, beets, potatoes, and wheat to the front gates made of thin pieces of wood. He faced them and Tsuna stood behind him,  
"We do not want to cause you harm but if you cannot give us the money in thirty minutes, we will be forced to take one of your villagers to do some labour and pay for your entire village." With that, the guards steered their horses to the side to Tsuna's father through. He attempted to follow but was roughly pulled back by a gloved hand,

"Ow!"

"We are to let one person out. You are not permitted to leave." Tsuna looked at the man and found cold eyes looking back.

"But I always hel-"

"You should understand that you are in no position to be speaking. Decide who shall become the king's property now, for the peasant might not be back within the time provided." The guard ordered and let go of Tsuna's arm.

**OoOoO**

"Tsu-kun! What if they can't get the money in time? Will you really have to go?" a brown haired girl asked as she ran up to him,  
"Kyoko-chan! Where did you hear that?"

"The whole village is talking about it, Tsu!"

"Uhm, well I guess that's true..." He trailed off, not really wanting to tell his best friend anything bad. She was still so fragile and Tsuna didn't want to make her sad in anyway. She looked at him sadly,

"Tsunayoshi..." she whispered,

"But it's gonna be okay, I promise! We'll just wait for my dad to get back and I can stay!" He said frantically. In his entire life, Kyoko had never called him by his full name.

Tsuna smiled as he turned to look at the setting sun. That's right. If his dad didn't make it in ten minutes then he would have to go to the palace and work there for the rest of his life. He closed his eyes and thought about the bitter sweetness of this whole thing. As much as Tsuna didn't want to leave his family here in his village, he felt like he needed change and this was one way to get it. But most of all, he just wanted to meet the king. The king that had plagued his thoughts for almost his entire life and he thought it was fair that he should be able to meet him at least once.  
"Don't act so calm about it! I know you're thinking about something! Why won't you tell me anything?" Kyoko's voice brought him back and Tsuna found himself answering absentmindedly,  
"It's nothing you need to worry about. I just feel like I need a change. I've always wanted to see what a palace looked like anyways and I always dreamed about meeting the king who rules it all. You know that too, right? That I've always wanted to see the king?" Kyoko looked at him questioningly,  
"And you think this is how you're gonna experience it? Do you think the king's even going to see you?Tsuna, they'll work you to death there! I'm worried about you." she said and Tsuna sighed,  
"I guess they will. But hey, I was put to work here as well. How hard is it gonna be there? Don't worry. My dad's gonna be home any minute now and I won't have to go at all!" he smiled at her reassuringly, ignoring the comment about the king. Kyoko's expression softened and she smiled back.  
"You better be right about this, Tsu-kun." Tsuna forced a small grin, the corners lifting upward as he thought about the appearance of the king. He really hoped his father would be late, as selfish as that was.

"Please just give him a few more minutes! He'll be back anytime now!" Nana begged as she held onto one of the guards' arms, sobbing. Tsuna walked up to his mom and pried her fingers off of and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, embracing her one last time before letting go and smiling at her. He then gave a quick kiss on the forehead and said 'I love you' before walking away, not looking back. His father had missed the deadline and now he had officially become the payment. Tsuna looked at the guard, who was holding his hand out,  
"Get on. We need to report back to his majesty as soon as possible." The brunette nodded as he grabbed the other's hand and got on the horse.  
"Wait! Tsu-kun!" a girl's voice erupted from the crowd as the horses were about to set off, "Don't forget any of us, okay? I... got you something... I hope... I hope... you can come back to us soon..." Kyoko sobbed as she handed him her gift. It was a stuffed lion, Nuts, the one that they used to always play with. Tsuna blinked back tears as he held onto the lion tightly, afraid that if he let go of it for one second, it would disappear.

His heart soared with each bump the horse encountered and Tsuna's mind wandered once again to the king just past the mountain. They had passed his dad a while back and he stopped to sob at the loss of his son. Sweat had coated his hard earned body and bits of his grey hair were a lot more apparent in the sunset. Tsuna's heart lurched forward again as the horse made a small jump in its trot and he found himself grasping the person in front of him for some balance on the animal. A deep laugh sounded from the other man,

"You haven't ridden a horse in your entire life, have you, little one?"

"Huh?" Tsuna looked at the man in front of him, "Oh, uh, no. I spent my entire life on my feet." he said rather sheepishly. The man laughed again as he looked ahead,

"That's alright. Just hang on tight, okay? It's might get bumpy from here on out." He warned and Tsuna nodded even though the man couldn't see him.

Tsuna was already one too many kilometres away to see his own village but just ahead was another one. He clutched his toy tightly in to his chest and pressed himself against the guard again. Tsuna peeked over the man's shoulder to look for any form of life there. Looking at the children in the front playing with straw dolls made him think about his childhood where he had spent hours on end, trying to mend a simple button onto one of Kyoko's doll shirts. He already missed them.

-2 hours later-  
The palace doors creaked open with the most unpleasant sound and Tsuna placed his hands over his ears to lessen the horrific screech. A large hand made itself home in his hair and Tsuna whirled around to see who it was. It was the same man whom he had ridden with on the horse. What did he say his name was again? Oh yes, Knuckle. They shared a smile, although Tsuna's was more out of embarrassment, and the guard told him that the king had been waiting impatiently for the arrival of either the money or the peasant.

"I need to report to him very quickly. You need to come with me."

He led him down a long corridor that seemed to go on forever until they finally reached the end of the hall with a single door standing in front of them. Grunting, Knuckle slowly pushed both doors open and looked back at him,

"It's harder than it looks."

"Hah..."

"Knuckle. What do you want?" A velvety voice sounded through the air and met Tsuna's ears as turned his attention to the source of the voice up ahead. There, perched on the high and totally uncomfortable looking chair was a young man. His black hair contrasted against the light of the moon that was slowly seeping in through the long windows. He held a soft, longing look in his eyes as long fingers tapped against his cheek.

The guard brought his attention back to him as he placed a hand on Tsuna's head, Knuckle's eyes sending him a smile. Tsuna let the man walk ahead of him and promptly followed after, stalking down the red carpet that created a line all the way from the door to the king's chair. Once Knuckle found that he was within range, he dropped to his knees and lowered his head, expecting Tsuna to do the same.

"Your majesty."

"Cut the crap. No more formalities here, Knuckle." the man almost growled as he took his attention away from the window. Knuckle chuckled, his shoulders shaking just a bit,

"Well you see, King Reborn, he..." the guard motioned towards Tsuna whose eyes were practically glued to the carpet, "...is your payment."

King Reborn frowned. He did not like being bullshitted to, no not at all. And if Knuckle was even _joking_ about this whole matter, then God help him, he would burn the latter alive with the cheapest oil in the world and then scatter the remains that couldn't be diminished into the rivers just up North. He was serious about getting payment from the village. Namimori village that had been there for who knows how long. His dark eyes cast over to the brunette in front of him,

"His name?"

"Sawada Tsunayoshi." Knuckle stated and King Reborn clicked his tongue. That made much more sense now.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi, come forward." he curled a finger absentmindedly and hummed as he witnessed his faithful guard pick the peasant up from his feet and push him towards the king.

Giving the king a small wave, Tsuna grinned meekly and shifted around uncomfortably,

"Hi." Knuckle mentally smacked himself for not remembering to tell the poor boy to address the man as either 'your highness' or 'your majesty'. Onyx met auburn and the two remained there for a moment, completely still and unaware of the things around them, even Knuckle seemed to be ignored. King Reborn was first to break their heated daze as he turned to the hindrance in the room,

"You forgot to tell him, didn't you?"

"Well, I didn't have the time to and it just slipped my mind."

"Hm, how typical of you." The ruler mumbled to himself as he spoke once again, this time in a language unknown to Tsuna.

The brunette stood awkwardly between the king and his guard as they casually conversed in a foreign language. Though their voices carried on throughout the dimly lit room, Tsuna could feel the king's heated stare burn into his clothed skin. He moved his weight from foot to foot under the gaze and looked around as he was being ignored by the other two. Thick red curtains hung above the king's throne and attached rather tightly to the supporters on the high ceiling from one spot, the walls were decorated with dull grey bricks that were expertly molded in, and the tall open windows stood on his far right, towering over him almost intimidatingly. Tsuna took a step back and stumbled a bit when an overly pleasant voice reached his ears,

"Come here." whirling himself around to face the raven haired man sitting on the throne, Tsuna marched himself up to the him even though his knees felt weak and drained. He clutched his lion behind his back for some reassurance.

"Well, I shall leave the king in your care for tonight, Tsunayoshi. Have a good night." Knuckle enunciated as he casually bounded out the door, slamming both doors with a loud, _BANG!_

Tsuna turned his attention from the door to the man in front of him. The king. The ruler of . The one that had plagued his mind ever since his early years in the village. Somehow, he looked a lot more different than Tsuna had imagined. In his head, a king was someone with a potbelly and a jolly smile, complete with a shining yellow crown on a tuft of either balding or white hair and a bright red outfit with a white fur trim. Instead, in front of him sat a man no older than 25, lean and of fair complexion, with onyx hair and striking coal eyes. A bored expression played across his face and his lips were curled downward into a grimace.

King Reborn turned to him and his lips twitched just slightly. Heaving himself from the oversized throne, the king stalked over to Tsuna, a playful grin taking over his elegant features as he got closer. Tsuna stood there like a doll and waited until their chests touched to meet his gaze with a timid one.

"Hey." the king's husky voice dripped with want as he dipped his face lower into the short boy,

"Y-Your majesty." Tsuna managed to breathe out through his clouded thoughts. The king was standing in front of him. He was touching the king. Or rather, the king was touching _him_. Overcome by that very

idea, Tsuna's instinct told him to take a step back so that he wouldn't get hurt, so to say.

Before Tsuna could even weigh out his options, King Reborn had bent down and placed a chaste kiss on the latter's forehead, and then bent down to softly lick the shell of his ear,

"Hey, love. I'm glad I get to see you again after so long." He muttered lovingly as he wrapped an arm around Tsuna's lithe waist. In a fleeting moment, their lips met gently. Tsuna's eyes widened briefly before the king pulled away.

"Ha..." at a loss of words, the brunette could only stare into the deep pool of onyx that pierced through him, "I... You... Ah..." He opened and closed his mouth multiple times, before deciding that he wouldn't be able to utter even the slightest of words and gave up, his body still pressed closely to the other. King Reborn pulled Tsuna closer to his body and hummed quietly to himself, "I've missed this scent..." a hand found it's way into his tangled brown locks, "So lovely..."

"Y-y-y-y-your majes-"

"Come, my love. Sleep with me tonight." The king whispered gently as he loosened his grip on the auburn haired teen and walked away, expecting Tsuna to follow suit.

The two walked down a long corridor decorated with small candle lamps against the wall, tapestries of dancing people and different scenery, and small tables lined against the wall with a vase of flowers on top and spaced out rather nicely. Tsuna followed behind until he reached a dead end in the hall with two tall, oak doors looming over him. A creaking sound resonated through the night followed by quiet footsteps and soon, the brunette was standing at the door by himself. The king had already disappeared into the room. Frantically, he bolted inside and stood there, dumbfound by the size of the room that was occupying his eyesight. It looked to be as big as his village. Absentmindedly, Tsuna clutched Nuts tighter and looked around for the king.

King Reborn stood by the grand bed against one of the high walls and waved a little, signalling the brunette to come forward. Tsuna did so, albeit hesitantly, and stalked into reach of the king. King Reborn muttered a few foreign words before reaching out and grabbing the other by the waist yet again. Tsuna's first reaction was to let out a soft yell before covering his mouth and looking away from the onyx haired man. A soft chuckle emitted from the king, chiming through the quiet room and Tsuna felt his cheeks grow warm.

"Tsunayoshi..." King Reborn breathed out, "Come." his fingers grazed over Tsuna's cheeks gently and the latter closed his eyes.

"H-hai."

Tsuna woke up as a ray of light shone through the royal blue curtains. He squinted his eyes and turned around to avoid the light. He wrapped his arms around the source of warmth he had just found and sighed contently. Any moment now, his mom would come wake him up and he would have to help out around the village. Last night had been the best, he had dreamt of going to the palace and actually meeting the king who claimed to have known him from long ago. He hugged the warmth harder, not wanting to wake up just yet for this was the first time in so long that he felt warm. A soft chuckle erupted from his pillow-like warmth and Tsuna cracked an eye open to look at the intruding noise that woke him up from his beauty sleep.

It was the same man from his dream, the one who ruled over his village and all of, King Reborn. Tsuna shrieked and pushed himself away from the man resulting in him falling off the bed. The taller man looked at him and then started to laugh while getting off the bed and cradling the other. "Good morning." His husky voice tickled at the brunette's spine, "Did you have a good sleep?" Tsuna nodded, his head brushed against King Reborn's chest. The king smiled as he lifted the brunette's chin up with his free hand. He leaned in for a kiss. Panicking, the brunette moved away and said,  
"H-how about we go get something to eat, aren't you hungry? Haha, I sure am."Tsuna tried to break the contact but King Reborn only held on tighter.  
"Not yet. Come here Tsuna. I haven't seen you in 18 years, I don't think I can wait any longer..." a knock came from the door as King Reborn sighed and let go of Tsuna,  
"Your majesty, breakfast is ready." Tsuna quietly thanked the gods.  
"We'll finish this later." The king got dressed as Tsuna quietly sat there, completely stunned. Nuts was still lying on the messy bed, nestled into his pillow.

A redhead walked in when King Reborn finished dressing and Tsuna had gathered himself up. "Good morning. I'm here to take Tsunayoshi-kun to the bath house." He slurred a bit as he bit back a yawn. King Reborn nodded and looked over to Tsuna who gingerly sat up from the bed and followed the stranger. Once they got out of King Reborn's earshot their conversation started,  
"Good morning Tsunayoshi-kun. I hope you have had your fair share of sleep?" the other tensed up at the question,  
"Uhh, I-I-I suppose I did. How was your night, uhm...?"

"That's nice to hear." The redhead continued walking, ignoring the invitation to introduce himself. "Now, how about we give you a bath and some clean clothes? I assume that you haven't had the chance to change out of your... clothes." He said as he looked over at Tsuna's torn trousers and old shirt. How on earth could he sleep in those? And beside the _king? _Unbelievable.

"Th-that would be good." Tsuna scratched his cheek nervously. He had been feeling a tad bit sluggish and found a hot bath very fitting to help revive his liveliness. The redhead inspected him a bit more and pushed his glasses higher up on the bridge of his nose,

"Come along then, Tsunayoshi-kun. We'll have you sizes measured for the near future." He said as he walked ahead of Tsuna, mumbling the last part to himself. "Now where did that wretched Alejandro disappear to? He's in charge of Tsunayoshi-kun's measurements."

The redhead, Tsuna learned, was Japanese, just like him and went by the name Irie Shouichi. However, due to his rich upbringing in Italy under the care of the Duke of Tuscany, he only kept his language and followed the way of the Italians. That meant that King Reborn was not just a king, he was the king of Italy. Tsuna's mind was filled once again with the magnificent eyes and velvet voice. Irie stood near the entrance while he allowed Tsuna some privacy in the bathtub as he continued to think about King Reborn. The brunette subconsciously weaved his hands through the water and carelessly splashed about in the process.

"Stop that!" Tsuna's hands froze underneath the warm water when his ears picked up Irie's gentle voice. "If you do that one more time, sir, I will have to report this wretched act to the King." Thinking the anger was directed towards him, the auburn eyed teen quickly tended to actually cleaning himself. He was dressed in a robe shortly after and made his way to where Irie was.

It really wasn't, in fact, aimed for the brunette but another man with black hair and striking grey eyes adorning a crisp white shirt and black trousers. His hand was snaked around Irie and his eyes flashed hungrily,

"Why do you hold such a troubled expression, Irie? Does this not suit you in any way?" he asked as he drew the red head closer with his free hand. Irie glared at him with menacing emerald eyes and pulled away, dusting off imaginary dust and turning away from the man,

"You're not here to openly court someone who is already engaged, Alejandro." he gestured toward Tsuna who had been standing near them for some time already, "Now, if you do not mind, King Reborn would like you to have his measurements ready by noon today."

"Fine. But what's your relationship with the king anyway?" Alejandro questioned as he pulled out his measuring tape from his pocket. Tsuna could only stare in awe,

"..." the tape wound around his weight and Alejandro mumbled the measurement to himself, as if trying to memorize it with the lack of paper and pen.

"Hey, I asked you a question."

"Huh?" The tape was now sitting securely around his shoulders and Alejandro was staring down at him.

"What is he to you?"

"Who?"

"The king! What is the king to you? What is your relationship with each other? Why do you not listen?"

Tsuna really didn't know what to say. He had never thought about it before, their relationship didn't seem so important. He simply wanted to know everything he could about the king.

"I.. he... we.." Tsuna was at a loss of words.

"Alejandro, I don't think I called you in to interrogate a mere love interest of mine." A deep voice called out from Irie's spot and the two found that the red head had already dropped to one knee and was modestly lowering his head. It was the king.

"N-not at all, your highness. I will tend to him right away!" Alejandro whirled around and mumbled again, more quick and frantic this time while Tsuna seemed to be burning under the King's stare. Alejandro shuffled around a bit more before pressing his hands against the brunette's chest and humming questioningly,

"You have a rather small build for someone your age." Shocked by both the statement and the forced kinship, Tsuna let out a small yelp and pushed the invading hands away.

"D-Don't do that so suddenly!" the brunette stuttered as he shielded himself with his brittle arms. Alejandro smirked, clearly amused with the feminine outburst but remembered that the blood thirsty ruler was standing no more than 2 hand spans away from him. He stayed rational.

Once Alejandro finished writing down the measurements on paper provided by Irie, he flipped his onyx coloured hair and bowed at the king until he had reached the door. Irie had also excluded himself by saying that he would check up on the condition of the cooks for tonight's feast. The two were left alone in the bath house. Tsuna gazed around nervously and pulled his robe closer to his body. The only thought he had at the moment was what happened to his clothes. Underneath the light robe was only him. His naked body for the world to see if anything were to happen to the robe.

"Tsuna..." King Reborn breathed out. The brunette could feel the ruler's lingering gaze on his back and breathed in as quietly as he could. He could feel the raven haired man coming closer and the proximity nearly killed him.

In an instant, cold air met Tsuna's shoulder as he felt himself being stripped from the only clothing that provided privacy. King Reborn's warm hands explored his upper body as he once again claimed the brunette's lips in a loving kiss. Stricken with fear and awe, Tsuna's hazel eyes could only dart from the man in front of him to the door. He panicked. Not once did he think he was going to enjoy another kiss to the lips but he did. They felt nice, King Reborn's lips, pressed gently against his own.

"Mmnf!" He let out a muffled cry and attempted to break free of the strong hold the monarch had on him when he felt something wet trailing the thin line between his closed lips, but to no avail did he get away. Tsuna began losing air and soon, he found himself leaning into the other for support until King Reborn finally pulled away. He rested their foreheads together and mumbled a few more words until he stepped back.

The king pulled the lithe body into his arms and kissed the crook of his neck. It triggered a soft mewling sound from the brunette. King Reborn smirked against the soft skin for a second before ravishing it with nips and kisses.

"Mmm... anhh...n-no..." the latter protested as he rested both his hands on the ruler's chest. He felt too weak to push. Before long, Tsuna was closing his eyes and muffling his pleasuring groans as he let King Reborn nip harder on his shoulder. What felt like hours to the petite boy turned out to be only a few minutes while the king let go of him.

The ruler then handed him a light blue shirt and black trousers,

"If you don't dress quickly, I'll dress you myself." his smirk was present once again and his hands were already finding their way back to the latter's shoulders. Realizing his danger of being touched inappropriately once more, Tsuna clumsily grabbed the clothes and turned himself around, dressing himself as quickly and discreetly as he could.

King Reborn's laughed tickled at the teen's ears and turned his face into a rich pink hue. With only half of his shirt on, he was greeted by another kiss, but this time to the shoulder. The ruler spoke up, more quietly this time and nestled his nose into the crook of Tsuna's neck, "Why are you so withdrawn, my love?"

"Ah..?" The brunette closed his eyes and exhaled, unconsciously taking in the scent of the king behind him. Of course he was withdrawn, no one was to be informal with the king unless it was his queen.

"Hmm..." King Reborn hummed gently while circling his arm around the amber haired teen's waist, pressing their bodies closer.

"I..."

"You?"

"I... I need to change..." Tsuna whispered quietly, already feeling the effect of his own words. The king look at the back of his neck dejectedly before letting go. The brunette pulled the rest of his shirt on and buttoned it up, not wanting to be seen in such an embarrassing state much longer. That's when he found a pair of hands on his lower back, slowly sliding down to the hem of his pants,

"I told you already, if you don't change quickly, I'll do it for you."

"Ah, wait! N-No!" Tsuna was silenced by yet another intruding kiss as King Reborn slid a hand up the lithe boy's upper body. "Mmph!" auburn eyes widened at the realization of the long fingers trailing his body. King Reborn's tongue attacked his neck next, licking and nipping all the way down to the crook of his slender neck and kissed the sensitive spot. Auburn eyes looked at him frightfully, "S-stop..." he blushed and closed his eyes again, biting back a soft moan. He could feel hot tears attacking at his eyes.

The door clicked open once again. Irie stood by the door way with a scroll in hand and a baffled expression,

"Your majesty..." he said shakily as he gulped and tried to form words,

"Ah, Shouichi, fine morning, isn't it?" the king asked as he stood up calmly. "I expect you both to be down soon for breakfast, alright? Make sure he's fully dressed." King Reborn ordered Irie as he stole another glance at the lithe boy sliding down to the floor,

"Y-yes."

"Good." the onyx haired man mused as he stalked off, leaving Irie with the mess he had created.

* * *

So what did you think of it? good? bad? Review please! Reviews are very very very very appreciated so please do so. :D :D

&& like i've said before, this is totally unbeta-ed so please forgive me if I have any mistakes ^^


	2. Chapter 2

Hellur! Haha, I'm back with the second chapter for you guys! ^^

I really wanna thank the people who favourited, reviewed, and added me to their story alerts because it means a lot to me!

So please, R&R again and i will give u free cookies and pies! :D

Anyways, this story won't have any lemons... just sexual mentionings so beware ^^

* * *

Tsuna felt the tears run down his face as he stared at the duke's apprentice, why hadn't he stopped the man from kissing him? Why wasn't he here when he needed help? Why did he look so shocked? He let out a strangled cry as the redhead ran towards him, "It's gonna be alright, don't cry. Shhh." He comforted the little boy that was now in his arms

"He..." Tsuna gasped for air, "He... he..." Irie felt the boy shake violently against him as he cried,

"It's okay... Come on, let's get you cleaned up and then we'll go eat." He pulled the bawling boy onto his feet and helped him get dressed out of his messy clothes.

The brunette had been quiet the whole time, clutching onto his sleeve for dear life and holding a hand over his mouth to keep from screaming, Irie assumed. "Okay, we're done." The redhead looked him over, his hair was still wet and it clung to his face in a messy manner, his wrinkled shirt was now replaced with another light blue dress shirt and black pants. "Tsunayoshi-kun, you can't go out with your hair wet like that." He reached his for towel, "Why don't you dry it really quickly." Tsuna reluctantly let go of the red head's sleeve and timidly took the towel in his hands,

"Ne Irie-san, are you going to eat too?" Irie shook his head,

"Unfortunately not, I have some paperwork I need to go through so that I can pass it on to the king." Tsuna nodded in understanding. The two shared an awkward smile before going off.

They walked in silence for most of the time, each in their own world, not really caring for what the other did at the moment. Tsuna's mind kept going back to what happened earlier that morning.

_The king pulled the lithe body into his arms and kissed the crook of his neck. It triggered a soft mewling sound from the brunette. King Reborn smirked against the soft skin for a second before ravishing it with nips and kisses._

"_Mmm... anhh...n-no..." the latter protested as he rested both his hands on the ruler's chest. He felt too weak to push._

How embarrassing. To be caught up in such a predicament so early in the morning. He didn't even get the chance to get a bite to eat. Tsuna subconsciously hugged himself while reminiscing. He could still feel the dark haired monarch's hot breath tickling against his skin, his large hands caressing his body and dear lord, the _tongue_...

_'Hyee! No! Bad thoughts! Bad thoughts, bad thoughts, bad thoughts, bad thoughts, BAD THOUGHTS!'_ Tsuna screamed in his head as he shut his eyes and slapped both sides of his face, _'No more thinking of the king...'_ he thought to himself as he attempted to once again regain what little composure he had and continued down the corridor with Irie by his side. The young boy was determined not to let his mind wander through such dangerous places ever again.

It proved to be a difficult task. After all, the boy had spent nearly all his life wanting to know every single detail of the king that no one could tell him about. And yet, every time Tsuna blinked, he would be greeted with the loving sight of the raven haired man for a split second. Every time Tsuna let out a heavy sigh, he would be brought back to the moment King Reborn spoke in a deep, velvety voice while breathing hot air down the nape of his neck. And what was worse, every time he even did something completely irrelevant to the situation prior to now, he was thinking of the king.

"Stupid..." the brunette said quietly to himself as he rounded a corner,

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Irie questioned, flashing his striking emerald eyes back at the other. Tsuna stopped for a second before realizing his small mistake,

"Ah, no, it was nothing."

"Hmm..." Irie hummed quietly to himself.

"Ano, Irie-kun... Do you think you cou— " The apprentice turned his attention back to the front and proceeded to pick up his pace, ignoring Tsuna's attempt to speak.

A soft clacking sound met against the hard marble floor and Irie visibly flinched. He discreetly motioned for the lithe boy to come closer and when he was close enough, Irie whispered, "There's someone followi—"

"Oi, Shouichi!" a hand clasped itself around his shoulder and stopped him dead in his tracks, "I've been looking for you." the voice sounded deep and breathless, but Tsuna dared not look back to see who the man was. It seemed like Irie also refused to look back as he bore a hole in the ground from all his staring,

"Ah, uhm, w-was there anything you needed from me?" the red head asked, his voice suddenly dropping significantly.

"Not particularly. I passed Alejandro on my way here, said he got to hug you again, any of that true?" the man asked. The brunette could only stand on the sidelines and watch Irie's expression change from a nervous one, to a very embarrassed one. There wasn't much of a difference in those expressions, but the apprentice just blushed all the more when he was embarrassed,

"Knowing Alejandro, he probably made up some tall tale about me as a damsel in distress in which he saved and as a reward for his heroic act, I presented him with a loving hug. Am I close?" he asked through gritted teeth, balling his hands into fists. The man laughed a hearty laugh and something clacked gently against his teeth,

"Spot on." the man enunciated. Tsuna heard Irie take off his glasses and sigh rather loudly,

"That tailor gives me the worst migraines imaginable." he figured the apprentice was pinching the bridge of his nose, like what most people did when they were stressed.

The same laugh came from the man again and curiosity got the better of the young boy. Tsuna inhaled sharply and whipped his head around, curious as to who the intruder was so early in the morning. He was greeted by a rather pleasant sight of a clean, sandy blonde man, clad in a thick purple robe with white trimming and white trousers. His leather boots were laced with black and seemed newly polished. The blonde pulled out a sucker from beneath his robe and presented it to the red head,

"Here, have a sucker. It'll make you feel better." he offered along with a smile. Irie only blushed and silently took it, not sparing another glance at the other,

"Tsunayoshi-kun, we must hurry. The king awaits you." he said, placing his glasses back on the bridge of his nose and stalking off. Well, he would have if not for the stronger blonde holding him down flat on the ground by the arm. A mellow smile rested upon the man's lips as he parted them to speak,

"Are you busy afterwards?" he questioned.

"I have to sort out paper work for the king." Irie answered, not looking at the man behind him. But still, he smiled and gently let go of the younger boy,

"Come by when you're finished with it, we can have a talk over some espresso." He proposed. Irie pushed his glasses up,

"...Alright." he said reluctantly.

The two took off again, but not before the blonde man could stretch his hand out and softly ruffle the apprentice's hair, which he dismissively shrugged off with a very noticeable blush darkening across his cheeks. Once again, the soft laughter rang through the air and vibrated in Tsuna's ears.

As they passed the many luxurious halls, Tsuna couldn't help but ponder about the man before. Who was he? What was his relation towards Irie? Didn't he have breakfast yet? Why was he going the other way? But most of all, why was he offering a sucker to Irie? Didn't he have anything else? But being as simple minded as one could be, Tsuna resorted to asking the red head flatly,

"Ano, Irie-kun, who was that man you spoke to earlier?" completely oblivious to Irie's discomfort, his eyes silently pressed forward,

"Just... a friend." he replied shyly, as if trying to convince himself in the process. Tsuna didn't believe a single word of it. So, being the kind of person he was, the brunette just continued to stare, unbelieving. Irie finally caved in with a soft sigh,

"He's the duke of Milan, arrived at the kingdom a few months back to discuss some matters with King Reborn and has been here ever since." he paused long enough to take a deep breath and close his eyes, "He's also... my fiance."

_Rain pelted down against the castle's roof as the people inside shuffled around the halls, retiring for the night. Everyone but Irie. No, he had something far more important at hand than resting for the night. Behind him trailed a girl no older than 20, dressed in a blue silk gown adorned with petite roses. Irie bit back a yawn as he sharply turned a corner, not looking back to see if the girl had continued to follow him or not. It was his job to escort the older girl to the king's chambers like he had done many times before._

"_Uhm, Irie," the timid voice called out, horribly mispronouncing his last name, "when will we arrive?"_

"_Shortly." he replied. Irie despised staying up after hours just so the king could look for another mistress._

_Of course, the girl was unaware about becoming a mistress. All that she was aware of, was that she had one chance to bewitch the king, to make him become hers, just as many others had tried to do. Irie hated people like that. People who thought they could rise to the top because of one little push from the king. No, it took so much more work than just a simple batting of the eyes, Irie knew; he'd lived through it._

"_Uhm, Irie," the girl said again, tugging at his sleeve. The red head forced himself to stop and turn around to look at her,_

"_Yes?" the red head drawled out,_

"_I'm Elizabeth, nice to meet you." she said as she reached out for a handshake. Her blonde hair bounced lightly against her shoulders as she cocked her head to the side,_

"_Y-yeah..." said Irie. He begrudgingly took hold of the hand softly and after a few shakes, quickly let go of it. Elizabeth giggled a bit and started to speak. Soon, things about her family, religion, region, friends, and even family name were revealed. Not that Irie cared much for it, no, not at all. He just wanted to get his job over with so he could withdraw to his room, or maybe even back to Tuscany where the Grand Duke was waiting for his return. But alas, Elizabeth made things so much harder._

_They were soon in sight of the king's chamber and Elizabeth's chattering had descended to a whisper. He could tell that she was nervous; her eyes shifted between the different tapestries hanging outside the king's room to the two guards standing in the front to Irie. The red head could do nothing to help her now, the king was just behind the doors and anything he said could have easily been heard. He only beckoned for Elizabeth to stay near him and walked calmly past the guards, pushing the door open and immediately assuming his position: kneeling on the ground with his head modestly lowered. He hated doing this. But nonetheless, he opened his mouth and recited his words,_

"_Your majesty, miss Elizabeth Hartford has arrived." nearly every word was the same as the ones last month, with the exception of the full could hear King Reborn laugh before rising from his seat behind the curtained entrance to his bed,_

"Good, good." he praised, stepping down the marble steps, "However," the king said as he stopped right in front of Irie, "that took you way too long. We're going to have to cut that time in half..." a new voice came into the conversation,

"You plan on making this a routine?" a deep voice sounded from behind the tall man as a blonde walked out of the room. He looked at the Irie who was still kneeling on the ground and then at Elizabeth, who was also kneeling before them, secretly stealing glances upwards at the place around her. "So this is Shouichi?" Irie could feel the other man's eyes on him, burning into his back and his heartbeat increased in pace for a moment,

"Yes. Shouichi, introduce yourself." the king ordered. The redhead complied. He stood up and straightened his clothes,

"I'm Shouichi, sir. Pleasure to meet your acquaintance." Irie stated with a bow. "I do not wish to be rude, but may I ask who you are?" the blonde smiled as he pulled a sucker out from nowhere and popped it into his mouth,

"My name is Spanner. I'm the duke of Milan, seeking refuge here in this palace until some matters have settled between the king and I." he uttered with a charming, almost teasing smile. "Oh, and I happen to be engaged to someone named Irie Shouichi." Green eyes widened at the statement as Spanner brushed past the two. "But I'm afraid to say I have to get going now. Reborn, you always seem to be keeping me up so late." The other man smirked,

"You said you wanted to meet him." but by the time he finished his sentence, the blonde had already disappeared around the corner.

King Reborn examined Elizabeth, walking around her once, twice, thrice, before breaking out into a small smirk,"It's late now, I think you should go to bed, Shouichi. There's a little surprise for you in your room." He winked at the redhead before pulling Elizabeth closer to him. _Irie bowed once and took three steps toward the door, followed swiftly by another bow and he was out the door. Not forgetting to shut it, of course. No one would really want to know what the king did in the late hours._

_Irie walked through the east wing, turning into different corridors as he allowed his mind to wander. What was the secret the king had prepared for him? He took a left and reached the stairs. What if it was something dangerous? Should he risk going into his bedroom? Irie reached the bottom of the stairs and turned right down a hall. If he didn't return to his room, where would he possibly take refuge for the night? But then again, what if it wasn't as bad as Irie predicted? The lad pushed his glasses up and sighed. There was no point in dawdling around the halls now, his body was fatigued. Irie finally decided to take the risk with his surprise and hurried down the left corridor to his destination. _

_He stared his door down when he reached it, turning the knob gently, as if to not make any noise. Much to Irie's demise, the door loudly creaked open. Thunder cracked outside his window loudly and lightning illuminated his dark room. There was a figure standing near his bed with a pleasuring smile. Once again, the lightning shone through his room and vaguely showed the man's face. His stomach churned quite severely. Not that Irie noticed it, he was too busy fumbling for a candle to look up. Once he had ignited the candle, the red head glanced around him, looking for anything out of place. His senses were beginning to haze. '_By a surprise, King Reborn meant a thief?'_ Irie though to himself as he backed up against the wall and frantically looked around. His stomach was proving to be rather burdensome at the moment. His habit was coming back, he was experiencing another stomachache simply because he was nervous. The other person in the room laughed,_

"_Shouichi, you're more amusing than I predicted." he mused, stepping toward the red head. A second passed, and another, and another. Until finally, he was within the candle's diameter. He smiled and Irie let out a breath he was unaware of holding. It was Spanner._

"_S-Spanner-san, is there a reason for your visit?" he asked, feeling his cheeks heat up a bit. Spanner smiled and held up a pillow in one hand. In the other, he carried a scroll,_

"_Here," the blonde motioned for Irie to take the scroll, "the king has ordered me to hand this to you." Irie shifted closer to Spanner and took hold of the scroll. It bore the king's wax seal. The red head peeled open the letter and read the contents inside,_

_**By his majesty's order,**_

_**The engagement between Spanner Bienati and Shouichi Irie shall be announced to the citizens within four days time.**_

_Irie read, read, and reread the contents again. Which citizens? What engagement? How did he not know of it? Why such little time? The red head looked up at Spanner in a confused manner, not bothering to ask a single question. Spanner smiled and placed his pillow onto Irie's bed,_

"_I spent a whole day trying to convince Reborn to let me sleep elsewhere, but he held his ground. Sorry for the trouble, Shouichi." such informality! Did Spanner not know that addressing the king by his first name was subject to a death penalty? The red head stood uncomfortably by the wall with the scroll still in his hand, what was he supposed to say to the man? His emerald eyes darted around the room nervously, suddenly wanting to get out of his room very badly. The blonde only smiled and slowly pulled off his robe, dropping it beside him,_

"_Don't worry," he walked up to Irie and slowly ruffled his hair, "I have no interest in kids." Spanner informed him with a carefree smile, "I won't do anything to you." Irie could only blush profusely and rush off to the bathroom with his change of clothes._

Tsuna didn't understand how that came to be. Spanner didn't look much older than Irie, so why had he expressed his dislike of 'kids' to him? And more so, why did Spanner treat the apprentice like such a child? The brunette found that the more he pondered about it, the more confusing it became,

"Tsunayoshi-kun, we're here. Please follow me." Irie looked back to check if the little one was still there. Snapping out of his trance, the 17 year old nodded and trailed behind him like a puppy. The redhead led him into an empty seat beside the king and walked out the door, not sparing anyone else a glance.  
"Now that everybody is present, let us all enjoy our breakfast." King Reborn announced as he picked up a fork in one hand and a knife in the other and began eating. Tsuna looked around to see the others already eating their food so he too began, only to lose his appetite when he realized what was on the table. He eyed the chopsticks on side of his plate and then looked at the fork and knife arranged on the opposite side. King Reborn raised an eyebrow at him, "Does the food not suit your taste?" the brunette waved his hand dismissively,

"Not at all your majesty." He said quietly as he picked up his fork again. Though he was Japanese, he was never able to stomach natto and miso soup. It was pathetic, really. He gulped as he reached out for some fried shrimp. At least not all of it was Japanese food,

"Do you know how bad your punishment is for lying to the king? Tsuna, you can't eat this, don't lie to me." King Reborn said as he looked him right in the eye. Tsuna unconsciously placed a hand over his abused shoulder. He was caught, the king had been testing him, and he had gotten himself into trouble by trying to lie his way out. He turned a deep red when the monarch held his chin in place and kissed his forehead, "Go back to my room, I'll bring you something to eat later." Tsuna stopped functioning and sat there for a bit, staring up at the strange man.

"But your majesty-" King Reborn shook his head and looked at him again,

"Go."

Tsuna sat numbly by the king, stunned by the open display of affection in front of all the people high enough in rank to dine with the monarch. His cheeks blazed a pinkish hue as he fought hard to refrain it from showing, but to no avail did he manage to, it was far too much to handle. The brunette's amber eyes trailed upward to the kings face. He slowly lowered his head and excused himself, using all of his will not to run out the room, his blush increasing by the second.

Near the door, Irie stood beside the king's tailor, seemingly bickering over a difficult matter. His eyebrows were furrowed into a displeased frown and his lips were pursed into a thin line. The smaller boy nearly missed him,

"Are you already done eating?" Irie asked once he saw the 17 year old boy walk right past him. He shrugged the other off with a small wave and turned to the brunette. Tsuna snapped out of his trance and looked at him apologetically,

"I didn't notice you there, Irie-kun."

"Hm? So this is your relationship with the king, huh? Little one." the tailor cut in, wrapping one hand securely around Irie's waist and pulling him closer, "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

His stomach growled, "Ah, I-I-I, t-this, It's just, well..." Tsuna nervously scratched the back of his head, "I didn't really think it was that important." he managed to say. What kind of relationship did he have with the king anyway? Alejandro smiled, baring his teeth,

"Are you happy with that kind of relationship, little one?" he asked, holding even tighter onto the apprentice as he tried to break free, "What will you do once he tires of you like he does with everyone else?" the man taunted, his smile turning into a wide smirk. Irie finally broke away, pushing Alejandro as far as he could from him,

"Tsunayoshi-kun, please do not pay any mind to him. More than half of the things he says is nonsense." he straightened out his clothes and pushed his glasses up, "But Tsunayoshi-kun, is there something you would like?" he asked. The brunette laughed sheepishly,

"I can't eat certain...food. So the king said that he would bring me something to eat when he's done." The redhead smiled in understanding,

"So you want me to escort you to his room?" the brunette nodded,

"Please."

Tsuna trailed behind the apprentice sadly, his mind still on Alejandro's words. The king? Tire of him? Why on earth would he do that? What did Alejandro mean by his relationship with the other? The latter sighed; ever since he arrived at the palace, his head had only been filled with questions. And what questions they were! They were all such complicated ones that he knew of no one who would know the answer to. No one but the king. Yet Tsuna could not even utter a single word to the king without the sense of being overpowered.

The two walked in silence for half the time until the brunette's curiosity eventually got the better of him. Another question was beating its way into his head. Summing up all of his courage, he asked his friend, "Ne, Irie, how come you ignored everybody in the dining room? That's not like you at all, you're so friendly." The redhead smiled to himself,

"Because I'm not supposed to be friendly to others when I'm on duty." Tsuna nodded as they kept walking,

"Will you be waiting in there with me too?" he asked yet another question and Irie shook his head,

"Unfortunately not. Since I was caught up in something with Alejandro, I am deeply behind on my work. But being an apprentice, I have no status in this kingdom therefore I am not permitted to stay in his majesty's room unless he has commanded me to do so."

"Oh." Was all Tsuna could say before they reached the royal chambers and the redhead had left him without another word. The brunette sighed, he knew Irie was upset for not being able to speak any more to his fiance but why would he try to hide it? Hungry and confused, he looked for a place to lie down and have a nap. Yawning, he climbed onto the bed he had shared with the majesty last night and lay there, hoping to catch even a wink of sleep.

Once he caught sight of his stuffed lion, he simply couldn't sleep at all, for he suddenly felt home sick. How were his parents doing without him? Did they find someone else to help them with the crops? Was the village doing fine on its own? Tsuna clutched the lion and held it closer to his body before closing his eyes. Unknowingly, the brunette had slowly drifted off into a deep slumber with his toy in hand.

A hand softly caressed Tsuna's cheek and he purred quietly, whimpering once the warmth had disappeared. Cracking an eye open, he looked up at the king and sleepily smiled, "Hello." He mumbled as he tried to close his eyes and return to la la land, unaware of the mistake he had made. The faint smell of pork udon wafted through the air and Tsuna shot up, "It smells good..." he said quietly, looking at the bowl of food in the other male's hand.

"What are you waiting for? I did say that I would bring you some food after I finished eating, right?" The other nodded and slipped off the bed, not forgetting to place Nuts beside his pillow. Sitting down with a pair of chopsticks, he looked at the monarch, 'He really isn't so bad...' he thought as he gave him a dreamy stare,

"Thank you, your majesty." He said as he began eating, hungrily wolfing down the food. King Reborn smiled,

"No need to thank me, there's a price you need to pay for that, Tsuna." The king informed him. But the king's words slipped past him as he focused on the delightful taste of some familiar food.

Tsuna finished the udon quickly and soon, there were only little bits of the delicious noodle floating atop his flavourful soup. The brunette subconsciously pouted and scooped up as much of the udon as he could. The king sat a bit closer to him, "I don't intend on letting you owe me anything, so you better pay up as quickly as you can, my love." He stroked the brunette's hair lovingly as the other one stopped dead,

"What do I need to pay?" he asked, his mouth full of the last bit of food that was slowly being chewed on, "Do I still need to pay off my village's taxes?" King Reborn smirked,

"Of course you still do. But even if you pay it off, don't expect me to let you out of the palace so easily." He leaned down and blew hot air into the lithe boy's ear, "Hurry up and eat, I want you to pay me back as soon as possible." Tsuna visibly flinched and backed away from the other,

"E-eh?" the king stared at the bowl and then back at him,

He moved over to him, pulling him into his lap, "You even rejected me in the bathroom, you need to pay for what happened there too. Not to mention you lied to me this morning, Tsuna. Don't think you can get away with that either." The boy gulped and pulled away from the other,

"I-I didn't mean to lie to you, it's just I thought that I would be bothering you so I didn't say anything." He waved his hands in a defensive manner. King Reborn smiled knowingly,

"That doesn't give you a reason to lie to me, love." He pulled the boy back into his lap and wrapped his arms around him, "Tsuna, it seems like you've forgotten how to be intimate with people, let's remind you of how it feels to be loved, okay?" he smirked as he leaned down to kiss the boy.

Auburn eyes widened in shock as a pair of lips met with his own in a long, soft kiss. King Reborn pulled away and rested his forehead on the others. Smirking once he realized that Tsuna wasn't going to protest and then bent down for another kiss, the other side just a little more willing to do so this time.

King Reborn licked his bottom lip playfully and waited for the other to open his mouth. Tsuna complied and moaned when their tongues clashed and fought in an old battle of dominance, sucking greedily on the king's tongue when he realized he had lost the little attack.

The dark haired monarch broke apart for air and examined him. Tsuna's breathing was heavy and rigid, his eyes were watery, his cheeks were glowing a soft pink, and his mouth was still partially opened. The man smirked, "What a cute reaction, let's continue." He captured those delicate lips again, then pressing their chests together and holding Tsuna by his waist.

"Your majesty." He panted once they broke apart once again, "I-I-mmph!" he covered his mouth when the other latched his mouth onto his neck. He grabbed onto King Reborn's shoulders when the other started nuzzling into his abdomen,

"Oh? Did you want something my love?" the other shook his head, trying to push the other off,

"W-w-wait! I don't want—"

The constant throbbing in Tsuna's chest gradually increased as King Reborn darted his tongue into his mouth again, intertwining his hands with the other at the same time. They broke apart and shared a quick kiss before the king moved down to his nether regions.

Tsuna woke up to the smell of green tea and his stomach immediately growled. A sharp pain coursed through his lower back area as he attempted to sit up. Groaning, he fell backwards and curled into a ball, pulling all the blankets around him closer, and snuggling into the pillow. A snicker was followed by a chuckle as two shadows loomed over him, "He's cute, how old is he?"

"Seventeen." came the king's velvet answer. Tsuna looked up and found King Reborn staring at him with a gentle smile and another man that seemed to be younger than the king himself but the same height. The stranger smiled,

"Cool! I'm eighteen, I'm pretty sure we'll get along just fine." He let out a pleasant laugh and sat down on the bed. "Hi, I'm Yamamoto Takeshi, I'm supposed to take care of you because Irie is travelling to his fiance's native land, Milan, for a short period of time. They'll be leaving in a week or so, so I was informed that I should start staying with you now." Yamamoto announced rather cheerfully. The seventeen year old stared at the older man sitting on the bed and then gazed at the one standing up.

"I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi, nice to meet you." He mumbled, saddened by the fact that his only friend was moving away on such short notice.

"Oh, but right now, I have something I need to do, so I'll come check up on you in a bit, ok? See you later!" The eighteen year old and the king shared a smile before Yamamoto excused himself and left the room. King Reborn smiled and bent down to hug the bundle of blankets on his bed,

"Are you sad Shouichi's leaving?" he felt the other nod, "Don't be, you two can see each other every now and then." Tsuna sighed and mumbled,

"Why don't you just tell me who you are? How come you always confuse me? How come you don't try to explain anything to me?" tears stained his doe eyes, "It really hurts..." King Reborn smirked as his grip around the bundle tightened,

"I haven't gone all the way with you yet, this isn't as bad as what would have happened if we had gone all the way, my love." Tsuna sniffled,

"H-Hah? Y-you mean a-all th-those thing you d-d-d-did to me... it wasn't...?"

"No, my love. I know you're not ready for that just yet."

"... Who are you? Why do you confuse me so?" Tsuna questioned tearfully. The black haired man sighed,

"I'm Reborn, the king of this palace and the villages, I don't mean to confuse you, I just want you to know how much I love you, and I don't want to explain anything to you because you already know everything, you just can't remember it." He kissed his bundle and got off the bed, walking towards the table and drinking his cup of tea.

"I've never met someone named Reborn before, I'm sure of it..." Tsuna mumbled to himself as he cuddled into the mattress, not caring whether he was nude or not,

"Tsuna, be glad that you're not ready to proceed to the next round yet." The king told him playfully and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. '_Who is he?'_ he thought as he drifted off to a deep slumber.


	3. Chapter 3

Okaii, so, I have just _lost_ touch with this story and... i finished this at 3 am... so I don't think it will be very well ... done... and I'm sorry for not updating any sooner because, I went to Edmonton for a few days and when i got back, I got lazy =X

Just to let you know that I have no thoughts of abandoning this story or any other one of mine so please be patient with me..? there's only so much a 13 year old can do at once, and my english isn't perfect, it will never be because i am asian and i do not speak English like an English person **(LIES! ALL LIES!)** so forgive me if I made any mistakes..? ^^;

But please review (for expired pies) because it took me a long time to figure out how I should write it out and i wanna know how many people actually appreciate my (hard)work...

Anyway, on with this story.. _ ouh, and i dont KHR no matter how much i wish i did, Q_Q

AND! another thing, i have a poll on my page, idk if u guys know about that, but if you could, would you mind taking it? ^^; i really wanna see which couple is the more popular ones so that i can work on some more stories of them :3

* * *

It was two weeks since the little incident with Reborn and the two shared quite a rocky relationship ever since. Not to mention that it had already been a little over a week since Irie's departure from King Reborn's palace. Sensing that the other was sulking and was uncomfortable around him, Reborn took to spending most of his time in the study rooms and only coming back to the room at night. Tsuna had sought comfort in Yamamoto's room for the time being, pondering day and night of who the king really was. Since Yamamoto's bed was significantly smaller than King Reborn's, they slept close to each other every night, sometimes even resorting to Tsuna laying atop of him on some nights. The brunette shifted gently around when he heard a soft groan from the man next to him.  
"Ne, Tsuna, you're gonna have to stop sleeping on my arm if you want to stay in my room, you know." The spiky haired teen mumbled sleepily. The other rubbed his eyes and sat up,

"I'm sorry, I sort of got accustomed to it..." The doe eyed one apologized. His brown eyes suddenly lit up as he thought of the most brilliant thought he's had since he arrived, "Yamamoto! Do you know who the king is?" he asked as he gripped the other by his shirt. Yamamoto let out a deep chuckle,

"Of course I do. He's the one that touched you inappropriately." Tsuna blushed; he was trying to forget about that,  
"Th-That's not what I meant! A-and he didn't touch me inappropriately!" he stuttered covering his face with both hands,  
"But you didn't want it, that's similar to rape." He pointed out, cushioning his head on both his hands, he smiled cheekily, "You're defending him, aren't you Tsuna?" he teased,  
"No I'm not! It just wasn't rape!" he blushed,  
"So you liked it then?" he looked the brunette in the eye. Tsuna hit him as hard as he could on the shoulder and turned around,  
"I-I-I didn't like it!" he screamed. Yamamoto laughed and pulled the boy back down by his waist,  
"I can see why you've been sleeping with me for the past two weeks now." He poked the boy's cheek, "You liked it so much that you're scared you can't hold back so that's why you decided to hide from him, am I right?" he chuckled when the other didn't reply.  
"... You didn't take my question seriously, did you?" he asked, trying to break free from the other boy's grip. How could he be so comfortable with a person of the same sex in just two weeks?  
"I did, he's the one that raped you, his name is Reborn but you should know that already." The black haired teen said as he looked at the frustrated movements of the other, "What else do you need to know?"  
"I wanna know who he is!" the seventeen year old complained as he finally gave up the worthless struggle, "I know his name is Reborn but I don't know who he is! He keeps saying he knows me but now he won't even look at me! Who is he?" he ranted on and on about being neglected and a bit about who the monarch was, waving his arms around.  
"You need to confront him about this, Tsuna. I don't think you like being neglected much, just go kiss him and make up." He suggested. The brunette shook his head,  
"Do you know how embarrassing it would be to just make up with him when I'm the one that ran off? I chose to avoid him first!" he let out an exaggerated sigh and faced the other way,  
"Then do it at night." Yamamoto said, clearly oblivious to the dark red colour his friend was turning. "Just kiss him, make up, and then go to sleep. It's the most efficient way, I'd say." He said with a smile. Tsuna only shook his head and buried it into the pillow. Yamamoto chuckled as he sat up, "But I'm going to bathe now. I'll come back for you in a bit." Yamamoto got off the bed, grabbed a towel, a new set of clothes, and set off. He stopped at the door and looked back, "Oh, and Tsuna?"  
"A-Ah?"  
"It might take a while, I'm in dire need of seeing someone whom I haven't met for quite a while. It may take a bit longer than expected, alright?" Tsuna sighed as he too sat up, pondering on what he should do for the king.  
Tsuna stood outside the king's study room, dressed in a long button-up shirt and black trousers, still deciding on whether he should knock or just come in freely. He raised his hand and then put it down, repeating the process several times. Until he heard the voices inside speak up, "Your majesty, wouldn't he be mad if he found out that you put a stimulant in his food?" a slightly muffled voice came from the room. King Reborn's laugh followed shortly afterwards with an answer,  
"Nonsense, Gokudera. Tsuna would never get mad at me for doing that." Reborn stated. The brunette stood shocked near the door. What an absurd idea, the king drugging him. The brunette held his breath and barged through the door,  
"You drugged my food?" he shouted in a questioning manner, "Why? How? What?" he continued to ask. A young man looked at him and then back at Reborn. His silver hair reached a bit past his ears and fluttered about as he turned his head again, his green eyes piercing through him,  
"Is this Sawada Tsunayoshi?" the teen asked, pointing a finger at him. A blush spread across the brunette's face; he had momentarily forgotten about such rudeness he was displaying. The king nodded,  
"Yes, that would be him. Back to the main topic, Gokudera. How are my troops doing?" the teen turned his attention back to the monarch that was addressing him. Gokudera sighed,  
"They're holding out, but it doesn't seem like it's going to be over soon, we're losing too many men and they don't seem to care how many men they sacrifice for the sake of this war." he informed the ruler. King Reborn nodded, clearly displeased with the news he was hearing. The onyx haired man took hold of multiple papers and handed them to Gokudera. With that, he sent the other on his way.

King Reborn signalled for the other to come forward with a little curl of his finger,  
"Come here." he ordered. Tsuna reluctantly stepped up,  
"Why did you drug my food?" the doe eyed one asked, trying his best to calm himself. He had nearly lost his innocence not more than two weeks ago because he got drugged, of course he would be agitated. Reborn lips pulled upward into a small smirk and pulled the boy in for a hug when he was close enough,  
"You weren't warming up to me as fast as I wanted." He deadpanned "Would you like to go again?" he kissed the other unexpectedly,  
"Stop it, please! I'm mad right now! First you say that you love me and you know me, and then you go and take advantage of my body, and then you stop looking my way for 2 weeks! What on earth do you want from me?" he frustratedly pulled at his hair,  
"Well what do you want from me?" Reborn asked as he stopped the young boy's actions. Tsuna stared at the man with wide eyes and blinked in confusion.  
They spent most of the afternoon talking to each other and Reborn had managed to sneak a few kisses in here a there. Tsuna had admitted that he liked the king and didn't care who he was because he just wanted to be with him and they lived happily ever after. _**Like hell.**_  
The brunette had stated quite clearly that he did not want to be touched inappropriately anymore unless he was old enough and he gave the other permission. Reborn leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the lips leaving Tsuna quite stunned in his wake. "You need to stay quiet, Tsuna." He smirked when the other didn't respond, instead a light blush tinted his cheeks, "Or else I shall do it again." He said teasingly. The brunette pushed him away once he realized what the other just said to him,  
"I just told you not to do anything to me!" he complained as he kept his hands on either side of Reborn's chest, "Why don't you ever listen?" the monarch pulled one of Tsuna's hands away from his upper body and kissed his palm,  
"Because I'm the king, I can do what I want." he mumbled against the teen's soft skin, "Where's Yamamoto? Isn't he supposed to be taking care of you right now?" Tsuna pondered for a moment,  
"I-I don't know of his whereabouts. He just informed me that he was going to meet someone, but he didn't come back yet so I just came here. B-but I should get going, I'm distracting you from your work and I would like to look for Yamamoto." he struggled off of the ruler's lap and scrambled off,  
"Tsuna, wait here for a bit, I'll finish signing these papers and then I'll come look for Takeshi with you. You must also be hungry, I shall also accompany you to a dining room for something to dine on." King Reborn called out and turned his attention back to his work. The other flushed and turned away,  
"I wasn't asking you to accompany me." he mumbled quietly. But he waited anyways.

* * *

Tsuna had learned two very important things that afternoon. The most important one was that if you're in the same room as Reborn for more than half an hour then he might take out his stress on you, and the other, was that if Yamamoto said he needed to go somewhere and didn't come back in less than 15 minutes, then he shouldn't go look for him. Because there he was, in bed with someone else, sleeping, naked… did he mention that it was with another man? Well, it was. And the man had cat ears. But before Tsuna had seen everything in detail, the king had covered the lad's eyes with his hand and slammed the door shut. "You're not supposed to be looking at this stuff. Your mind is too innocent to be analyzing that." Tsuna pried the raven haired man's hands off,  
"Says you! I'm seventeen I'm old enough for this stuff!"  
"You're not old enough in my eyes so you can't see this." Reborn said as he dragged the other away by his arm,  
"But you _just_ touched me, you pervert! How can you say that I know nothing about it?" the seventeen year old whined, "You're unfair…" he added with a pout. Reborn chuckled as he kept walking, the other being dragged along like a rag doll,  
"It's not the matter of how many times I touch you intimately, or how much sex we have, it's the matter of how we do it. And you're inexperienced so therefore you're too innocent for whatever you just saw there." Tsuna huffed, it was illogical in his eyes but he was the king and there was no point in arguing with kings. He felt his arm being tugged at, "Come on, you're likely to be hungry by now."  
They walked down the halls of the palace and turned one too many corners that Tsuna felt his hand turn blue due to the lack of blood circulation. He twisted and turned his hand to free it from the king's death grip and felt the need to cry whenever he was ignored. The grip only grew tighter. "Relax, I'm just showing you to the way to the separate dining hall." the monarch growled lowly.  
They reached the room and Tsuna suddenly felt weak. There was a long table draped with a clean white cloth in the middle of the room, surrounded with elegant brown chairs. The table was set with silverware and freshly made food. A chandelier hung above the very middle of the table. Around the large room were potted plants that blossomed beautiful red and pink flowers. The walls were a rich gold colour, with many intricate designs embedded onto it. Never in his life had Tsuna ever come across something so unusual, so magnificent, so wonderfully lovely.  
He averted his eyes from the other when he found that King Reborn had caught sight of his awestricken smile. He stopped near the wall and pushed the latter against it, placing a chaste kiss on Tsuna's forehead in the process. The brunette let out a muffled gasp and the king's tongue cleverly slipped in. The two muscles danced together in Tsuna's heated cavern before the onyx haired man broke apart from him. His hands rested in the brunette's hair, the king's thumbs stroking tenderly at his cheeks,  
"I love you." the raven haired lad whispered as his hands travelled downwards from his hair to his face, then cascading even lower until they rested just above his rear end. Amber eyes fell toward the floor and the brunette kept his hands pinned to his side. Tsuna grit his teeth together, this was when Reborn was the most frustrating, when he said these things without really meaning it,  
"You shouldn't say things like that," he said, his anger slowly rising, the king was playing with his emotions and he hated it, "at least mean what you say." but his words went unnoticed when the other continued to murmur sweet nothings into his ears.  
Tsuna cracked his eye open. There was someone else in there besides them. Someone he knew very well. Darting his amber eyes around, the teen looked up at the grand stairs leading to the second floor just above the dining hall, Tsuna spotted the king's tailor with an amused look on his face. If he remembered correctly, the man's name was Alejandro. A gasp followed shortly after,  
"Alejandro!" Tsuna called out, utterly embarrassed by the loving position he was tangled in with the king. He struggled free and a deep red blush found it's way onto his porcelain cheeks. The king looked behind him and frowned,  
"What are you doing, Alejandro?" he demanded, reluctantly freeing the small warmth in his arms. The man in question smiled,  
"Why, your majesty, I have come to inform you of..." his eyes trailed towards Tsuna who was sliding down the wall in a messy manner, "the clothing that you have enquired. It has been finished." he said. King Reborn smirked,  
"Excellent. You are dismissed, Alejandro." the onyx haired man told him. He turned his attention back to Tsuna who was still on the floor, recollecting his thoughts. Reborn stared at the shorter boy lovingly before kissing him fully on the lips, "I have a surprise for you, you need to wait here until your..." he paused for a bit, seemingly thinking of the right words to say, "servant comes to help you dress, okay?" he added with a smug look that Tsuna just knew wasn't a good thing.  
"O-okay." He nodded obediently; far too embarrassed to even think about being angered any further, "Who's my, uhhm, servant?" the black haired king smirked before retorting with,  
"You'll see, my love. You know him quite well." his facial expression quickly turned to a dark one but disappeared just as fast as it was there. He showered the boy with kisses before he left the dining room. The brunette scratched his cheek; he was still not used to all the affection the king gave him.  
"Oi, Tsuna!" a large hand waved back and forth in front of his face and auburn eyes looked up to see milk chocolate coloured ones, "Reborn told me to help you get dressed."  
"Y-Ya-Yamamoto?"

* * *

Tsuna played with the end of his wide sleeves as he felt another tug around his waist and he turned his head just a smidge to look back at his 'servant'. "Ne, Yamamoto-kun, are you done yet?" the teen in question looked up from the fabric and stared at the back of his friends head,  
"Almost, I just need to tighten the obi and then we'll be done." The brunette nodded as he looked at the sleeves. It was made of a light green cotton coloured with white and pink flowers. Wooden geta sandals decorated his feet as he struggled to keep still,  
"I see..." he looked down at his feet again, "Ano, Yamamoto... where were you a while ago?" he questioned and the other stopped his actions. A small smile spread across Yamamoto's genuinely happy face, illuminating his features even more,  
"With a dear friend of mine." he answered rather cautiously, "Sorry about that, Tsuna. You must have been frustrated with me." Yamamoto apologized.  
"Ah, no, it's alright, really." Tsuna waved his hands dismissively. His mind went back to the small glimpse of the man he saw his friend with and shivered, just what _was_ that thing? Tsuna experimentally lifted his left foot to check the stability and nearly tipped over if not for Yamamoto's strong hands grabbing onto his waist at the last minute to pull him back. The man behind him chuckled once Tsuna regained his balance,  
"You need to be careful with that, Tsuna. What would you if the yukata ends up with any rips or tears?" he questioned, hands skilfully tying the obi,  
"I don't get why I need to wear such a girly Yukata for..." Tsuna mumbled in response to the black haired friend. Yamamoto let out a hearty laugh,  
"We can't help it, Tsuna. You're such an uke, being short and all, that's why you can wear women clothing." He stated as-a-matter-of-factly while the auburn eyed doll looked himself up and down in the mirror. "Also, the king demands it. And you know being one of a lower status than him, you can't exactly refuse the king's request." The other continued saying. He finished tying it and stepped back so that Tsuna could examine himself. Yamamoto was right, it wasn't just a feminine looking Yukata, it was one made for females!  
"Why am I the one who wears something like this? And what do I have to wear this to anyways?" he questioned and then swiftly turned around, only to fall forward into Yamamoto due to his geta sandals. Stupid sandals.  
"Like I already said, you're the uke, you wear the.. uhh, slightly feminine clothes. And Reborn told me not to tell you where we're going to go so I'm sorry to say but I can't tell you." Tsuna pulled away from him and sighed,  
"Oh, well is there going to be anyone helping me walk?" The man in question nodded,  
"Of course there will be! Reborn is." he pointed out. Tsuna only sighed; it was so hard to talk to someone as simple minded as Yamamoto. He eyed himself in the mirror again, he felt so vulnerable to any danger lurking around the palace.  
A shrill laugh came from behind Tsuna and he felt his skin crawl, what was this weird feeling he had in his chest?  
"Mohhh~ He's so much cuter than I imagined!" two gloved hands reached out and pulled him back towards the unwelcoming voice,  
"Hyeeee!" Tsuna screamed, desperately trying to grab onto anything of Yamamoto's he could. The other one didn't even look at him, instead he rubbed the back of his head and asked,  
"How do you know how cute he is just by looking at the back of his head?" an arm snaked it's way around the brown eyed doll's waist and pulled him in closer,  
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. How long have you known me to not question my statements? Look at his lithe body and his height! Of course he would be a cu-ti-e~" the other hand then grabbed his sleeve, "And look at the yukata he's wearing! It's a wo-ma-n's!"  
"Trash, stop harassing that piece of shit and get back here." another man stepped into the room, a deep scowl evident on his face. Behind him was a teenager, somewhere around Tsuna's age with blonde hair that covered both of his eyes. He held up multiple oddly shaped knives and laughed more to himself than anyone,  
"Ushishishishi, can I cut him up?" he asked, moving his knives back and forth. Tsuna looked at the customized knives with tremendous fear. Another man stepped out from behind the door, wielding a sword on his left arm. He thrashed it about and his long hair whipped through the air,  
"VOOOOOIIII! Did you hear what the boss said? Get back here, Lussuria!" he screamed and pointed at the man just behind Tsuna. Lussuria hugged him harder and laughed happily,  
"Mohh, he's too cute!" he tried to reason. Tsuna silently screamed in his mind and broke free from the stranger's grasp,  
"Yamamoto! Who are these people?" he latched onto the man's arm possessively. A warm hand rubbed his back,  
"They're Reborn's most trusted subordinates, Varia. It's okay, they won't hurt you. They just think you're cute. Look at them, they don't look harmful at all." he cooed. Tsuna broke out into a cold sweat when he turned around to face the intruders. _'They look like they're going to commit an unspeakable crime!' _the brunette thought to himself. The scary looking man with a patch of green hair wearing sunglasses grinned widely at him and waved. Tsuna took a wide step back, forgetting that he was wearing a yukata, and tripped over his own feet, resulting in him falling on his butt. The day was going to drag on like this, Tsuna was sure of it.  
Yamamoto snickered as he helped his friend up off his rear end and held his hand, "This is Lussuria, that's Belphegor but we call him Bel, he's Squalo, and that's Xanxus." he pointed to each one for emphasis. The brunette nodded and looked back at him, squeezing his friend's hand,  
"Where is Reborn anyways?" Tsuna questioned and the other shrugged.  
"He said he would be waiting for us in the dining room when you're finished dressing." Bel let out a maniacal laugh and waved a finger at them,  
"This is why we're here, to come get you. His majesty was getting impatient. Shishishi, to think that he's all flustered and worried because of a little kid. He's not fit to be ruler at all." Tsuna blushed at the rude remark. An unfamiliar feeling rose in his chest and Tsuna suddenly felt upset. How dare he speak ill of the king! The brunette stopped himself for a moment, was he really disappointed because they were bad-mouthing the king in front of him? A blush rose onto his cheeks as he waved that idea away, '_No, it's just they're being rude to the king.'_ Tsuna thought to himself. Yamamoto simply laughed them off,  
"Well we're done now. Will you guys accompany us?" The spiky haired teen asked. Lussuria nodded enthusiastically,  
"Of course! Oh, it's going to be so much fun! I'm going to shower Tsu-chan with all the things he wants and-"  
"Shut up, trash. We're not going with them." Xanxus stated, voice dripping with unspeakable hatred, "They're worthless in my eyes."

"Mohh, Xanxus~ Why can't we just spend a little time with him?"

"No. We're leaving now." he turned around and walked off, waving for the others to follow. Lussuria pouted and touched the brunette's forehead before mumbling,

"Looks like something sparked it." and fleeing toward the rest of Varia. Tsuna looked at their retreating backs with a flabbergasted expression. What was so wrong about the king? Did they not know the outcome speaking ill of the king in public? Or were they the rebels that his mom had always talked about? But Yamamoto had just told him that they were Reborn's most trusted subordinates. What in the world was happening?  
"Tsuna?" calloused hands held onto his shoulders and worried eyes bore into his honey ones, "Can you walk?"  
"Eh?" the black haired teen pointed at his slightly unbalanced friend and asked him again.  
"You were tipping over. I had to push you back a few times before you finally snapped out of it." Tsuna blushed all the way up to his ears.  
"O-oh, oops. Hahah, yeah I can walk. So where are we going now?" Yamamoto pointed at the double doors,  
"Out." he answered with a playful smile spreading across his face. Tsuna's eye twitched, he wasn't really in the mood for this. And as if he had read the brunette's mind, Yamamoto quickly added, "I'm sorry, I can't give you the details just yet, Reborn told me not to." Tsuna nodded in understanding as he looked at the door. A blackened figure ghosted past and stopped in front of it. The brunette tried to stay calm but instead found himself grabbing at the other teen's yukata and gently shook it,  
"A-ah, Yamamoto, are we... going... right now?" his face paled as he looked at the outline of the figure getting closer and closer to the door,  
"Haha, of course we are! Now come on, Reborn would get even more impatient and then take it out on you. Wouldn't want that happening, now do you?" okay so that was a lie that Yamamoto had made up on the spot. Sure Reborn would get impatient but hey, what else would he do?  
"Uhm, well, but, there's something there..." he pointed a shaking finger at the silhouette of some person standing just outside the room.  
"Huh? No there isn't. You must be hallucinating Tsuna, now let's go." the spiky haired teen let out another laugh, took the shorter one's hand in his own, and walked him to the door. Tsuna squeezed his eyes shut as he let the other guide him closer and closer to the door. Maybe he was just hallucinating, but he could have sworn that the figure looked quite familiar. He heard the sound of the door sliding open and unconsciously looked down. Nothing happened for a long while before Tsuna felt a large hand wrap around his shoulder.  
"Hyee! Yamamoto! There's something there!" he ducked behind the other and tightly embraced him from behind.  
"Trying to get close to him I see, Yamamoto Takeshi." a low voice boomed through the silent corridors of the palace. Tsuna looked up and opened his eyes to find Reborn standing in front of them. So it was _him_ who had been standing in front of the door and nearly scaring Tsuna out of his wits.  
"U-uh, no, it-it's not really like that. We're just friends, nothing else. Right, Tsuna? Ah ha ha." Yamamoto let out a nervous laugh and turned to him with a slightly intimidated face.  
"Huh? Oh, yeah." he decided to play along. What were they talking about anyways? Reborn smirked and focused his eyes on the brunette,

"Tsuna, your appearance shines brighter than ever when you wear that." he complimented. His hands reached out to take hold of the smaller teen and Tsuna shied away from his touch. Reborn sighed and pulled the other into his arms hastily,

"Ah!" the brunette gasped and fell into the king's arms. Warmth cascaded through his body as he listened to the king's heartbeat against his ear. A blush crept onto his cheeks and Tsuna found himself leaning in a bit more. The scent was familiar. Too familiar. As if he had known him all his life. Possibly even more than his whole life.

"Come, Tsuna. I'll take you to my garden."

**OoOoO**

Green. A vast land of green grass met Tsuna's eyes as soon as he stepped out into the garden. A gentle breeze tickled at his skin and danced with the millions of blades of grass in sight. Doe eyes raked in the scene slowly. They were standing on paved ground, and other than the rest of the paved parts in the garden, everything else was blanketed with grass. A small pond flowed through the middle of the garden and was covered with water lilies. A bridge carried them over to the other side where a statue stood tall and proud. And also barren.

"Th-this is..."

"Where we first met." King Reborn stated, pulling the brunette into his embrace. Tsuna's back touched the ruler's chest and his sight turned hazy for a split second. The onyx haired man's scent tore into his senses and the brunette found his eyelids dropping unexpectedly.

"_Patience." a hand reached out to caress Tsuna's cheek. He leaned into the touch and sighed, "I love you, Patience." the voice said, calling out to Tsuna softly. In a near instant, the warmth radiating from the hand was gone. The brunette reached both hands out to grab whatever was in front of him. Nothing was there._

"_Where are you?" He turned around hoping to get even a small glimpse of who or what was near him._

"_Patience." the voice called out again. Tsuna looked behind him,_

"_Wrath!" he screamed out, tears staining his doe eyes. "Oh Wrath, where are you?" the brunette asked no one in particular. He fell to the floor and let the tears flow out gently, "Wrath..." he said in a muffled voice. It was no use. He couldn't find Wrath anywhere,_

"_We can never see each other again." The statement hit him like cold water on a sleeping baby._

"_No, we can fix this, Wrath. We can fix this!" Tsuna cried out, softly cradling his own body, "We can fix this." he murmured. The tears fell like a waterfall now. A warmth surrounded him and the brunette hugged himself even tighter. The warmth breathed hot air down his neck and sighed,_

"_This was set up to be a disaster. We weren't meant to love, Patience." the velvet voice confessed. Tsuna merely shook his head,_

"_That's not right! There's a way out of this! There will be!" he covered his ears and let the tears flow relentlessly, "Just... Just stay with me, Wrath..." he whispered into thin air. The warmth was gone again, this time Tsuna knew it wouldn't come back. The only thing that remained in Tsuna's memory was the fleeting kiss and the soft whisper of,_

"_True love conquers all, Patience." that, and his beloved's face. The face that he loved so dearly, the face that he would do anything to see once again._

Tsuna forced his eyes open and a loud gasp escaped his lips. He was in the garden with the king, but what was that absurd memory? He had no recollection of it. Not just that, who was the man calling out to? Why on earth did he respond? The brunette turned around and stared at King Reborn's features.

"What is it, my love?" the king questioned. Tsuna could only look at the other with an awestricken expression,

"Wr-Wrath..." the words slipped out gently. King Reborn's eyes widened at the word. A blush crossed Tsuna's face as he placed a hand to his own lips, "Ah, no, uhm, Your majesty." he said apologetically. The king's eyes fell for a moment before he smiled again,

"You know, Tsuna, it will be another few months until we celebrate Yuletide. I think we should polish your Italian for the time being." the king suggested.

"E-Eh?" Tsuna stood shocked in the king's arms; even the beautiful garden ceased to do anything to help with his mood. "B-but I don't know any Italian." the brunette tried to reason. King Reborn gently stroked Tsuna's brown hair, taming the spikes.

"I will acquire a personal tutor for you." the king said with a smile, "Don't worry, by the time Yuletide comes around, your Italian will be good enough to converse with other people." King Reborn encouraged. Tsuna could only look at the ground.


	4. Chapter 4

Suuuuuuup~ hahah, here is my next chapter, and things are going along quite well now ^_^

lol, but as a writer, i would like to thank all the people who have read this story and reviewed by posting shout outs in this chappy~ kekeke, and for the people who are just reading it and not reviewing, I'm grateful to you guys ^_^

so thank-you very much

And just to let you know, I'm not doing this for every chapter, so uhhm yeah. i don't really know if I'm going to do this anymore, (the shout out) but really, it kinda depends on how many different people review =X

But anyways~ on with the shout-out and thank-you(s)! :

**Peony-chan: Ne, you were the very first person to have review this and you made me feel so proud and accomplished, even though you only reviewed once, I don't even know if you're continuing to read this or not, but I'm really thankful to you and I hope that you're still out there reading this (: && I will try to keep up my work~**

**Kikyokyoyahibari: You... have been reviewing since the first chapter and... wow, you keep asking all these good questions, haha, though I don't quite know how to answer them but to add some parts into the chapters, I appreciate you pointing out the things that I've missed. Please keep reviewing because, I like reviewers like you :3 (you know, people that can read my story and point out what's wrong with it, so thanks)  
**

**.adagio: Thank-you for reviewing :3 I hope you're still reading this and I hope that you still find this interesting~ 3**

**Gone and forgoten. : I'm glad you think this is cute :D and thanks for reviewing~ **

**spiel: Ouhh~ Why thank-you, there sure are alot of 'interesting' popping up in reviews ^-^ haha and thanks for the heart~ ** **hope I didn't disappoint you with my recent updates ^^; and yes, it was pretty easy for him to seduce Tsuna but I hope you know why that happened now ^^;  
**

.x** : I love you so much for your long reviews! Haha, thanks for reviewing in every chapter and stating you love for my story, you give me such a warm feeling in my heart and you make me giddy (not to sound like a lesbian or anything) so I seriously hope you continue to review, ne? ^^; by the way.. what does Nunca mean?  
**

**CH0C0CANDYZ: I worked your suggestion into my plot and... wow, it fit perfectly :3 so thanks for the suggestion and I hope you enjoy this chappy~**

**bLoOdYvAmPiRe7o1: - I hope I spelled your username right =X but hahah, thank-you alot for reviewing, that one time that you reviewed made me a little surprised because you admitted to not liking to review (or something like that) and I'm really glad that you reviewed for the first time on my story, ^_^**

**ayumistar00: hahah, weird huh? I guess you could call it that, but thank-you for stating what you thought about it :3 and I'm happy that you found it fun to read because things are probably gonna start getting complicated somewhere in the next chapter or the one after that. ^^**

**darkcat Smith: Ouhh, I love you for loving my story! Haha, and I'm glad this is your favourite pairing :3 though it isn't mine, I enjoy writing about them (:**

**crimsonPAINT. : Keke, glad that this story is striking your interest ;] and I think you'll find out who Reborn is soon enough ^^ maybe in like 5 more chappies :P or probably less than that. Lol, I procrastinated enough to write a one-shot and a sequel (which is on-going at the moment - 07/01/2010) of this couple, but it's angst, so I'll see what I can do with this couple ^_^**

**Yuukahhx: Haha, I updated :3 so I hope you find this chapter good ~**

**firepelt00: Yay~ another reviewer ! (: hahah, and I won't make you wait any longer! ^^ here's the next chapter fer ya! ;]**

**FanFic-1070: Lol, your review made me laugh, and I still do everytime I read it over~ But thank-you~ Haha, I do hope you enjoy this chappie, and I _do _hope that you will keep reading this ;]**

**And last but NOT least... :**

**fufukun: ! ^_^ judging from what you said in your review, I'm happy that you like it that much ^-^ *squeals with you* and wow! You added me into your favorite authors list =X thanks! I hope this one is good enough for you ^^;**

... that was a longer list of people than I thought. But thank-you (again) to those who have reviewed and haven't reviewed but still read it! ^_^

On with the story? (Unless you already skipped this part and went on ahead to the story)

* * *

Days turned into long, dragging weeks and soon, months passed. Tsuna was still learning Italian from the man that King Reborn had introduced as Aserte. The man was strict and neat. Always wore his grey hair in a low ponytail and walked around with a cane. Tsuna shifted closer to Yamamoto when the man passed them with the cane in one hand and a book in the other. The spiky haired teen chuckled quietly; the other was intimidated even after all this time. Did he not know that the old man wouldn't dare hurt a fly?

"Takeshi," Aserte called out, "Focus on your work, not the boy beside you." he warned and turned his back against them to look out the window. Yamamoto looked at the man's back in a confused manner before breaking out into a big grin,

"Ah, sorry about that. Eh, no, rather, mi dispiace." the teen fixed himself.

"Very good, Takeshi. Your pronunciation has gotten better." Asarte nodded and turned his attention to Tsuna, "And you, Tsuna? How has your studying come along?" The brunette flinched and struggled to find the words,

"It.. i-it's coming along very well, sir." the seventeen year old responded in Italian. Asarte grinned and looked back out the window,

"That shall be all for today, you are dismissed until further notice." The man announced.

"Grazie." the duo excused themselves. Tsuna grabbed his textbooks and scrambled out the door before Yamamoto even had the time to blink. The man was scary, intimidating, and strict. Of course the brunette would be grateful to get out as soon as he could.

"Tsuna! Wait up!" Yamamoto chased after the lithe boy and laughed heartily, "Boy, you run really fast when you want to." the other joked. Tsuna only looked at him oddly before slowing his pace so that it would match with his friend's.

"Sorry, it's just that I don't like being around him, he scares me." Yamamoto only laughed,

"It's alright. But you know, Yuletide is coming." the eighteen year old informed Tsuna, "Reborn told me to help you dress."

"Ah, okay."

"Hmm, but what should you wear? I mean, you're going to need something nice to wear if you go..." he thought to himself, "Ah, I know! _He_ can help you!" Yamamoto spoke as he snapped his fingers.

"He?" Tsuna looked at Yamamoto with a confused look. "Who's he?"

"He is someone you miss dearly, Tsuna." a voice sounded from just up ahead. The two turned their attention to the front and bowed when they were graced with the king's presence.

"Uhm, excuse me, your majesty, but what did you mean by someone I miss dearly?" the brunette asked, his amber eyes searching for an answer.

"You really want to know?" the dark haired monarch asked. Tsuna nodded, "Follow me then." King Reborn beckoned.

"A-alright. I'll see you later, Yamamoto." the brunette bid his friend farewell and went on his way.

The brunette walked hand in hand with Reborn as they turned corners and opened doors, resulting in a very tiresome teenage boy halfway through, "Ne, your majesty, where are we headed?" the king stayed quiet and Tsuna sighed, they were getting nowhere with this silent treatment sort of thing. The auburn eyed boy looked down at his feet, looking at his small, crooked steps and comparing them to the monarch's wide, bold strides. Maybe it was because of the fact that he was the king and Tsuna was, well a villager, he somehow felt just a tiny bit more intimidated of how much power he finally realized Reborn had over him. It made him feel just a tad more uneasy as he shifted his gaze from his feet to the man walking beside him, wearing that mysterious smirk like always. Reborn opened the door and led the other inside,

"Let go!" a shriek came from the room beside and Tsuna's eyes widened. Something was off, this voice sounded oddly familiar, but who was it? The ruler pushed him forward into the direction of the other room,

"Go on." he smirked, "I know you missed him." Who? Tsuna wanted to ask, but held back. The shorter one took in shaky breaths as his hands reached the door and pushed it to the side. He was greeted with the pleasant sight of something he thought he would never see again for as long as he lived. Red hair. It was red hair.

"I-Ir-"

"I said let go of me!" the red head shrieked again as he lashed out against the other, breaking free of the opposing man's grasp and tumbling back.

"Irie!" green eyes darted around the room and finally rested on the lithe figure standing by the door,

"Tsuna!" the redhead exclaimed as he felt smaller arms wrap around his waist and pulling him into a hug,

"You didn't even get to say goodbye before you left!" Irie heard the muffled cry of his friend as he returned the hug,

"I know, it was unexpected for me too, I'm sorry. But I'm here now, and I'm staying for about a week," he heard the brunette gasp in surprise, "so we can talk to each other all you want okay?" Tsuna nodded and broke away from him,

"W-why are you here anways?" he sniffled, "N-not that I d-don't want you here, b-but, i-it's just th-that-"

"I know." Irie forced a small smile as he placed his hand on the auburn eyed boy's head, "I'm here because of some political matters that need to be discussed between the king and all his noblemen. Nothing else." the redhead's smile slowly disappeared as he looked away from the other man in the room,

"Oh? Have you been mistreating your little spouse here, Spanner?" the king asked through the midst of the silence. The man in question stared at the two huddled in the corner, quietly conversing to each other and letting out a few giggles here and there then answered,

"Not at all, Reborn. In fact, I think I have spoiled him quite a bit, if I must say so myself." the blonde turned to him with one of his infamous suckers placed neatly between his lips, "And how have you been treating that little one?"

"I've been treating him just fine." they briefly exchanged looks and turned away from each other, "Tsuna, don't you want to talk to Shouichi a bit more outside?" the brunette looked up from their sitting spot on the floor and nodded,

"Sure." he smiled at the red head who was sitting next to him, stood up, and waddled over to the king, "Thank-you, your majesty." Tsuna whispered, not bothering to hide the excitement in his voice as he wrapped both arms around the king's neck and pulling him down into a short hug. Once they broke apart, the black haired man traced the younger one's lips with his thumb and bent down to kiss him, without the other struggling as much as before,

"Your welcome." he murmured in between kisses. A few kisses later, Tsuna was stuck to the red head's side and leading him out the door, not before smiling at the other two men in the room and waving. Irie, on the other hand, left without even glancing back for a moment.

"So how have you been these few weeks?" the red head asked awkwardly, for lack of any better topic. Tsuna smiled and looked out the many windows of the half Japanese, half Italian kingdom,

"I've been okay. Things are going quite slow around here but I don't really mind that." he cast a sideways glance at the other, only to find that he was deep in thought, "How have you been?

"I..." Irie paused for a few moments before clearing his throat and starting again, "I... I've been better." he managed to say after a long while, "Things are... starting to get a little bit... odd between Spanner and I." he scratched his cheek and looked away. The brunette immediately frowned; something wasn't right. Tsuna grabbed the other by the wrist and pulled,

"Come with me for a moment."

"H-hey, ju-just wait!" Irie stammered out, he was caught off guard, who knew the other had such a vice-like grip? Tsuna only ignored the other and continued to pull him toward the designated place. He turned a corner and then turned right, carefully looking at his surroundings so as to make sure he didn't take a wrong turn. His face brightened at the open doors to the garden that King Reborn had shown him months ago.

"Come on!" Tsuna beamed, pulling the other outdoors.

"So... what are we doing in the garden?" the red head asked as he looked around the field covered with trees, flowers, and the pond. They walked across the bridge together and past the statue. The brunette only shrugged,

"No reason, I just want to know how you've been and it feels like you're holding back on something." Tsuna answered as his eyes bore into Irie's own emerald ones, "I thought maybe if it was just us two in a quiet place then maybe you would tell me."

"Well, it's not really anything wrong... I'm doing just fine," and then added almost as an afterthought "I think..." the brunette's frown deepened.

"You're lying." he deadpanned. Irie sighed and lay down right on the spot where he was standing.

"I'm really not. I am doing just fine. I just don't feel that way... if that makes any sense." the other nodded, though he had no idea whatsoever of what the figure on the ground was talking about. If he knows he's doing fine then why would he have to worry? "But that doesn't really matter right now. I.. sort of heard from Spanner that you've known his majesty from before?"

"E-EH?" the boy's eyes nearly fell out of their sockets as he waved his arms back and forth, "No, I haven't met him in my whole entire life!" he paused for a bit then blushed, "But.. my face feels hot every time I think about him, my skin burns whenever he touches me, and I always get this weird tingly feeling every time he kisses me." Tsuna looked up at the clear sky and thought about the memory that invaded his mind months ago, "I feel like I know him, but I have absolutely no memory of him."

"Maybe you had your memories erased." Irie suggested as he too looked up at the sky, "Anything can happen in this world, you know." the brunette looked at him with a shocked expression but quickly looked away when he realized the other wasn't going to look back at him,

"I guess you're right..." Tsuna closed his eyes and let in a deep breath, his mind had been trailing off to the king a lot lately and he was glad that his friend was here to distract him from that. "Wait!" he yelled in astonishment as he pointed an accusing finger at the red head laying in the freshly cut grass, "You still haven't told me anything about you and Spanner yet!"

Irie licked his lips and rolled onto his side. How was he supposed to tell Tsuna that there was a problem between him and Spanner and it was all because of him? So he settled with the old lie that everybody would say to their friends to cover up for how they really felt, "We just... aren't compatible enough to be together. Our minds aren't in the right place..." he mumbled more to himself than to anyone else in the garden. Tsuna stared at him for a long time with an unreadable expression on his face while the red head quietly picked at the grass,

"Is there someone else in his life that you don't know about?" Tsuna questioned him, head cocked to the side. Irie's eyebrows furrowed together into a frown and he pursed his lips. Well, half of that was right.

"...In a way, I guess. I mean, Spanner's a guy, he gets infatuated easily. So I know who he's interested in at the moment but... I don't like the way he keeps talking about him." The brunette smiled, so he was jealous. The red head let out a frustrated sigh and sat up, "I mean, I like him and I'm pretty sure he knows it. But what I don't understand is why he keeps finding ways to bring _him_ up everytime we talk!" Irie complained. And although Tsuna didn't know exactly how the other felt, he still knew that all the red head wanted was to be noticed by the one he really, really liked. "But it's alright. Spanner and I will both get over it soon anyways." He waved it off as he lay back down on his back and closed his eyes as if he was trying to get some sleep.

"Well, what if he doesn't?" the brunette really wanted to know just how much Irie could keep ignoring the fact that his fiancé could possibly be having some kind of affair with another person. And from 3 feet away, he heard the other whisper the only response he could think of,

"Then so be it." Tsuna was in shock, so to say. He always thought that his friend was the one to look on the bright side and not give up during hard ships, so why the sudden change of heart? What was he going to do now? Just live like that every day?

"Would you really just give up on him like that?" he asked yet another question and found that the other teen was just staring at him, smiling. A bittersweet smile would be the right way of putting it.

* * *

The duo spent most of the afternoon sharing their new experiences they had come upon while they were away from each other. And during the time that they were chatting with each other, Tsuna had somehow managed to lie down and roll over to where the red head was, laughing away as he did so. The day was almost wasted away when Irie's fiancé set foot into the garden accompanied by the king of Italy and the many villages surrounding it, including Namimori. The meeting finally finished and it was time for the red head and the blonde to retire for the night. King Reborn gave the brunette a smug look once the other couple was out of sight,

"I haven't seen you laugh this much in a long time." Tsuna did nothing but smile and close his eyes,

"I suppose Shouichi-kun's the reason." He felt two strong arms wrap around his waist he looked for any source of warmth he could. It was just like the warmth from that strange memory.

"I'm glad that you're happy now, but I'm pretty sad that it wasn't me." Soft lips made contact with his forehead and the brunette cracked an eye open. He stared at the chin of the tall man and realized the king was in a good mood today. "And now that Shouichi's gone, we can have some time to ourselves."

Tsuna still wondered what he meany every time he said that. So it's no surprise that when King Reborn bent down to pick him up and proceeded to carry him bridal style into the dark haired monarch's room, that the questions started erupting from the shorter one. The questions didn't stop until they reached the room but that's only because Tsuna was rudely thrown onto the bed, face first. And as oblivious as Tsuna is, he had a feeling he knew what was coming next.

* * *

King Reborm climbed onto the bed with him, smirk still in place, and pulls the smaller one into his body, tilting his head up and giving him a long, hard kiss on the lips. The brunette gasped gently and King Reborn's tongue did a quick exploration in the hot cavern. "Not going to fight me today?" The king mocked as he broke apart and placed another quick kiss on the latter's lips. Tsuna shyly shook his head, a blush rising on his cheeks,

"It's not that I don't want to fight, I still don't know how I'll become accustomed to this. But Shouichi told me something about you." He confessed quietly, "Back when I was 13, our village was flooded due to a heavy rainfall. The one who came to our aid never stated his name, but Shouichi came across a few old files that you were throwing out the other day before coming here. He said that you signed your name on one of those sheets to help feed and shelter those whose homes were flooded."

Tsuna looked up at those onyx eyes he had grown quite used to and leaned in for a kiss. The kiss was soft and gentle, it wasn't really much of a kiss, more like a pair of lips making soft contact with the cheek, but it counted for Tsuna. Reborn smirked against the kiss and held both sides of the teen's face. "I'm really grateful to you, your majesty." The latter said once they broke apart. The ruler stared at him for a long, long time before frowning,

"You really _did_ have your memories erased." Tsuna blinked in surprise. What an absurd thing to say.

"Huh?" Reborn sighed as he pushed the latter down onto the fluffy mattress and forced a knee in between the brunette's legs. Another kiss was planted on the side of Tsuna's neck as Reborn busied himself with sliding the article of clothing off the brunette's shoulder. "H-hey, w-wa-wait a minute!" Tsuna exclaimed as he used all his strength to push the older one off, but to no avail did the king budge

"Hmm? I thought you said you were grateful to me, what's with the sudden change of attitude?" The black haired male asked as he ceased all actions. Tsuna shook his head and blushed,

"I-it's not like that! I'm just _really _grateful to you and— W-where are you putting your hands?" the brunette let out a shriek when he found that the other had used the time he spent talking to undo his pants enough to slip his hands under the fabric and caress his bare skin. King Reborn smirked, things were going just as he planned.

"Relax Tsuna, it's going to be just like before. You coped quite well with it, did you not? And if I remember correctly, you liked it quite a lot too, Tsu-na." He whispered his name huskily and the brunette shivered. Auburn eyes darted around the room looking for some sort of distraction and Tsuna panicked once he realized this, because, who wouldn't be scared if they were stuck in a room with a pervert that could do whatever he wanted to you just because he was the king and it meant _death_ if you disobeyed him?

"What's wrong?" Reborn asked, leaving a few kisses and bite marks on his white skin. Tsuna fidgeted around awkwardly as he received more bite marks,

"Uhhh, well, it's just that-" he stopped mid sentence and bit back a moan, why did the king always have to distract him?

"That what?" the black haired male questioned teasingly as he worked his way down from the other's shoulder to the rest of his body, trailing butterfly kisses along the way and pulling his shirt off.

"-That, uhm, ahn, I didn't think you would-" he pursed his lips and held back a moan, "do something like this today." This was going to be one long evening.

* * *

"I love you." the king whispered into the brunette's ear as he buried his face into Tsuna's back. The latter made no move to reject him and merely sighed. _'All I wanted to give you was a kiss.' _He thought as he snuggled deeper into the thick layer of blankets, though it wasn't like he minded this or anything, he just wished King Reborn would _ask_ beforehand. But no matter, he could say that he didn't feel well to get out of the king's regular needs for up to a week. And with that time, he could ask a million questions that had been stirring in his mind ever since the day he arrived here.

"Ne, your majesty." The brunette started out and once he made sure he had gotten the other man's undivided attention, he continued, "Do you know what's happening between Shouichi-kun and Spanner-san?" Tsuna questioned as he sat up. Reborn smirked and wrapped his arms around the younger boy's barren torso,

"Who knows." The black haired king replied. Tsuna's frown deepened as he fiddled with his thumbs,

"Oh, I see..." his voice was full of disappointment, he thought for sure that Reborn would know something, he always seemed to know something. Said man smirked and leaned in for a kiss when the door suddenly slammed open,

"The bastard is making too much noise. Make him stop." The person said, arms crossed over his chest and a frown situated on his face. He was quite a sight, well to Tsuna at least. Black hair, icy blue eyes, pale skin, and a lean figure were normal characteristics, but for someone to have cat ears and a tail... that was something very odd. His ears twitched and he whipped his head to the side and glared daggers at something unseen to both Reborn and Tsuna, quite odd indeed, "He's coming." The cat-like boy muttered lowly as the aura around him turned murderous,

"Mohhh~ Kyou-chan! I haven't seen you in so long! Come here so I can give you a biiiiiiiiig hug~" The brunette cringed and shrank back into the king's arms. This voice sounded very familiar, unpleasant but familiar. Tsuna looked at the strange cat ears that seemed to be begging for attention and noticed that they were slightly... droopy. Was the person- err, cat tired? And then the latter recognized it. The cat-like boy

Those arms, that face, those ridiculous sunglasses, and that high, screechy voice. What was his name again? Lucy? Tsuna shook his head and heard Reborn laughing against him, his bare back feeling the vibration coming from deep within the ruler's chest,

"His name is Lussuria." The ruler whispered in a low voice so that only the brunette could hear him and then turned his attention to the two people standing in front of him, "Lussuria, get off of Kyouya, he already has a lot of problems he needs to deal with, you don't need to add to his worries. And Kyouya, if you come in without knocking next time, you know what will happen." Reborn's icy glare sent shivers down the latter's back and he pulled the blanket all the way up to his shoulders. Kyouya wiggled his cat ears and matched the king's glare,

"I have a report for you." He muttered lowly, "The herbivore's troops will fall back only if you are willing to." He said, tail flicking back and forth. Reborn smirked and placed a chaste kiss on the brown eyed doll's temple,

"Hmm, this is interesting. Thank-you, Kyouya, you can rest now. Oh, and tell Marmon and Leviathan to come by my work room in a moment, they seem to have slacked off on the job." Kyouya looked away with his arms still crossed and scoffed,

"I'm not your messenger." The cat-like male stalked off, not before stopping and hissing at Lussuria. The green and red haired man gaga-ed over the other before he too, bid the couple goodbye and made his way to who knows where, not forgetting to close the door behind him. Once they were alone, Reborn turned his attention back to the brunette cuddling into the blanket.

"Hey." The king started out gently, "You should rest for the time being, I'm going to my work room for a bit, don't leave, got it?" Tsuna nodded and stared at Reborn who was slipping on his clothes. And for the first time in 2 weeks, he saw two scars on the monarch's back, slanted and parallel to each other, as if they where wings on his back not long ago, and the hazel eyed beauty wondered for just a moment, if Reborn was some kind of Greek God that had descended from the heavens as punishment. Just before the king left, he walked over to his closet and pulled out a small-ish medium sized plush and threw it in the brunette's direction. Tsuna looked down at the toy he had just caught, it was his lion.

* * *

Tsuna stared at the soft toy in his hands and smiled a little bit. How could he have forgotten about something so special and dear to him? After spending more than 15 years with it, Tsuna had begun to neglect it when he arrived here. But that wasn't really the matter at hand. His lion seemed to be lighter than usual, although it was just a stuffed animal. The stomach looked smaller and the eyes were bigger. Was this even his? Tsuna looked it over again and sighed, laying the toy down beside him; this was his, and no one else'.The brunette gingerly lay down again and closed his eyes, breathing in the scent of the other subconsciously. His connection with the other somehow felt stronger than usual and it gave him a fluttering feeling in the pit of his stomach just knowing that.

Tsuna fell asleep shortly after and the sound of the door sliding open fell on deaf ears. The sound of feet padding against the hardwood floor made Tsuna stir a bit, but nothing more. And in his sleeping state, he had a weird dream with some familiar and some unfamiliar voices. "Hn, why are you looking at him like that?"

"Kufufu, because I haven't seen him before. This is the perfect time too, with Reborn gone and all."

"Hurry up." it was a command. And it sounded familiar. Tsuna felt a hand gently caress his cheek and he groaned softly.

"Hmm, he's quite the looker." the bed dipped and now warm hands roamed his body. Tsuna twitched a little and moved away from the wandering hands. Another laugh erupted from the stranger in his dream and then everything stopped. The touching, the sounds, the feeling, everything. Tsuna's eyes fluttered open as he let out a soft yawn,

"-and yet you go and do _this_ to him?" How strange, this voice sounded like someone he knew. "You're a sick basta-"

"Mahh, mahh, let it go, Gokudera. It's not like he's gonna do it again, right?" so the other person was Gokudera. Then the one speaking to him in such a happy tone could only be one person:

"Yamamoto?" Tsuna said uncertainly, "Is that you?" he made a move to sit up and yawned again,

"Yo, Tsuna." Yamamoto greeted happily. The brunette blinked and stared at the 4 people that invaded the king's room.

"T-Tenth!" a young adult with silver hair stuttered out,

"Kufufu, his eyes are beautiful." the stranger's voice from his dream was present too. He had blue hair that stuck out in the back and fell short in the front. Oddly enough, one eye was blue, and the other was red.

"...Hm." and then there was the cat from 20 minutes ago. His tail flickered back and forth and his ears twitched ever so slightly. Tsuna cocked his head to the side and as if Mukuro knew what the other was about to ask, he knelt down beside him and spoke,

"Hello there, my little Patie-" Gokudera cut the other off by faking a cough and then proceeded to glare at the blue haired teen, leaving Tsuna utterly confused in their wake. "Ah, pardon me then. My name is Rokudo Mukuro." he stopped to smile at the other, "You're Sawada Tsunayoshi, am I correct?" Tsuna could only nod.

"Yahh! Leave the Tenth alone!" Gokudera shrieked as he attempted to pull Mukuro away, "And quit holding his hand!"

Tsuna looked over at Yamamoto for some help and gawked when he saw the other laughing away while rubbing Kyouya's cat ears. The other looked like he didn't even mind it. Mukuro and Gokudera stopped their bickering for a second and both frowned just as deeply as the other. "U-Uhm, ano, guys.." Tsuna drawled out, his hand reaching out for the two in front of him. Gokudera snapped his head back in the brunette's direction and blushed,

"T-Tenth... wo-would you like some privacy?" he asked. He pointed to Tsuna's barren body that was partially covered by the blanket and the brunette let out a small, high-pitched squeal,  
"Hyee!" Gathering up the blankets to his chest, Tsuna shyly nodded and waited for them to leave.

* * *

The brunette had finished putting on his clothes and the four people waiting outside his door were filing into the room in a straight line. Gokudera was the first to speak once they came inside, "Tenth!" he bowed, "Would you like to have something to eat?"

"A-Ah no thank-you, Gokudera-kun." Tsuna refused politely.

"Because you're the tenth person that Reborn was interested in enough to bring back with him." Yamamoto chimed in just as Gokudera was about to answer and received a smack on the back of his head in return. How did he read his mind like that?

"Oh..." was all Tsuna could manage before his mind went into a web of unnecessary thoughts of who those other 9 people were.

"Don't worry about the people before you, Tsuna." Yamamoto said in words of encouragement. "And don't be scared, your face expression says a lot more than you think. I can't read minds." he joked.

"Kufufu, well I guess it couldn't have been helped since their colour was so similar." Mukuro said as he put a finger to his chin and smiled playfully.

"Huh?"

"Yeah, I think so too." Yamamoto piped happily as he wrapped one of his arms around Kyouya and pulled him in closer, rubbing one of the cat-like male's ears. That earned him a heated glare from the teen himself and the blue haired teen.

"Huh?" Tsuna repeated himself, just to see if they all heard him. But they didn't. Instead, they went on talking about things he couldn't quite comprehend and when they finished, questions spit out like wild fire.

Tsuna had learned quite a number of things during that afternoon, even though he was the one who was supposed to be answering the questions. It turns out that Mukuro and Kyouya were imprisoned in the same jail ever since they were young to be tested on, hence Mukuro's red eye and Kyouya's cat-like appearance. Their arrivals were set on a different time, which ended in Kyouya leaving the place before the other and completely shutting everyone out. Then Yamamoto came along and within 3 days, he had gotten Kyouya to stay by his side until Mukuro came.

"It's because I've lost someone close to me before too. But lucky for Kyouya, he didn't lose his forever." Yamamoto had stated with a sad smile when the cat-like teen was out of the room. Gokudera and Yamamoto still hadn't revealed anything about themselves yet but it all the new information was enough to set his mind on something else besides King Reborn, even if the 9 anonymous people were still kept in the deepest part of his brain.

Gokudera and Yamamoto had taken turns peeking outside the room and then giving an okay sign to the rest of the other people in the room, much to Tsuna's confusion. The pattern had gone on long enough that Tsuna gave up trying to figure out what was going on. But he didn't give up on who had gotten along well with who between the four. Gokudera seemed to have a secret liking towards Yamamoto and always scolded the other for being too close with the 'cat-boy'. But Yamamoto would only smile and say that he enjoyed Kyouya's company more than anything. Kyouya, on the other hand, disliked crowds. He didn't like being around people but preferred to be with Yamamoto or Mukuro. The blue haired one who was always smiling like a teaser at everyone in the room, specifically him. It never really made any sense to him, how he could sense all of this stuff, but he just knew.

Yamamoto was the first to retire, bringing the uncooperative Kyouya along with him and bidding them goodnight, Gokudera and Mukuro following suit, glaring daggers into the taller one's back. The king still hadn't returned from his work yet, so Tsuna had decided to sleep first. Just as he was about to give his conscious into slumber, the brunette felt the bed dip. Groggily cracking an amber eye open, Tsuna stared at the king who was towering over a him. A frown graced his features as he sighed and fell onto his own side of the bed,

"Your majesty..?" the teen called out gently. The king didn't answer him. Instead, he turned around and sighed quietly to himself. Tsuna suddenly felt a small pang in his heart as he too, turned away. The brunette went to sleep with a ton of thoughts on his mind. King Reborn being the first.

* * *

Review...? Keke, I procrastinated long enough and even took a mental health day to finish this! Hahha I know you guys must be thinking "Jeez! She took _ALL _that time just to do this? WTH" but hey, it's not my fault, blame my love for writing. xD Hibari's in the story now! And since I adore 8018 so much, I'm making them something important to each other :3


	5. Chapter 5

**Well, I updated quite quickly, I must say ^^ But I think that was only because I started this chapter right after I uploaded the other one. But awwwuh, the way it was formatted on my computer looked a lot better than on here. Ouh well, as long as you guys can read it ^^; hmm, I hope this chapter isn't too confusing for you because this is where the main problem is gunna start and it would be awful if I lost my readers because it got confusing ): and yay~ I have out-done myself, I wrote almost 5 pages (Yes, that's actually a pretty decent amount since I'm such a procrastinator) for this chapter, which makes up for the last chapter, I hope. Oh, and uhhm, I think Spanner might be a bit OOC in here, but that's okaii, because this _is_ a fanfic, right? ^^;**

**Okaii, enough with my ranting and spamming and what not, on with the story? :)**

**Enjoy-**

* * *

Tsuna woke up the next morning to find the others back facing him. He snuggled closer and loosely wrapped an arm around King Reborn's torso, taking in as much of the others scent as he could. The frown he had on his face stayed in the brunette's mind all night, resulting in him losing most of his good night's sleep. But he must have been pretty delusional since he didn't even notice when the other came in. Tsuna felt the king stir a bit and he was about to pull away when he heard a groan,

"Patience..." the ruler's hand fell over his small wrist and pulled him in closer, "I love you.." he mumbled and the brunette's heart felt like it dropped into his stomach. Was Patience one of the 9 people his majesty had brought home before him? But who was the one named Patience in his memory? Tsuna shook his head, thinking that if he shook it hard enough, his foolish thoughts wouldn't come back. But it was useless because soon his mind was filled with questions. How did she look? Was she anything like him? Why was King Reborn interested in her? Where is she now? The last two thoughts came upon him like a hard wave. What would happen if the monarch suddenly lost interest in _him_? Would he have to go back to his old life and force himself to forget about everything that happened up till now? Tsuna squeezed his eyes shut and held on tighter to the others waist. The thought of losing the other seemed almost unbearable, and just months ago he didn't want to be anywhere near the other. This was all happening too fast for him to fully believe that it wasn't just a dream. So Tsuna settled with the most possible conclusion he could think of at the moment: he was just _slightly _attached to the king and his good looks and personality.

Tsuna's thoughts were shattered once he heard a knock on the door, and without even waiting for an answer from the king, someone had burst inside with a loud, "Good morning~ Did you have a good sleep, my little lamb?" as a greeting. The brunette immediately recognized the voice as none other than the okama, Lussuria. But the two other voices didn't seem to remind him of anyone at all.

"Good grief, I have been doing my job. Why am I being sent here?"

"Hmph, let's make it quick, I need to see how the boss is doing." Tsuna lifted his head a little and looked at the doorway to see the two men standing behind Lussuria. One had a bored expression written all over his face and the other just looked anxious.

"Viper-san, please move, I can't see over your head." a monotone voice drawled out and when the purple haired male shifted to one side, a short green haired teen stood there with an expression similar to the one who just moved. By that time, King Reborn had fully awakened and had begun to sit up, ignoring the arm that was wound around his torso mere seconds ago. The four at the door turned their attention to the king.

"Where were you two?" the onyx haired man questioned, his eyes trailing over to Viper and the spiky haired male,

"I was with Fran, scouting the place just like you ordered." Viper replied, his hand making a motion toward the green haired teen behind him, who happened to be named Fran. The king nodded and turned to the other one,

"What about you, Levi?" he asked. Levi grunted and replied,

"I was scouting on the other side, even ask Bel." the ruler nodded again and waved them off. He lay back down beside Tsuna and stared at him for a long while before placing a chaste kiss on his lips. Tsuna heard the sound of feet shuffling and the door closed soon after that. But he could have sworn he heard Fran say,

"So that was Patience, huh, Viper-san?"

Tsuna was utterly confused. Wasn't Patience a girl name? There wasn't anyone but him and the king in that room. So as far as he knew, there weren't any girls. So who was Patience? His train of thoughts was cut yet again when King Reborn held both of his wrists together with one hand and smirked, "I didn't get a good morning yet." he said teasingly, his lips making contact with the brunette's neck. Tsuna shifted a bit in the bed and stuttered out a small,

"G-good morning." he was rewarded with another kiss on the lips. They parted and the king released the others wrist, only to pull him in by his waist and nuzzle his neck for a bit. Tsuna would never admit it, but he liked this side of the king.

The days dragged on and Yuletide finally arrived with many jousts followed by announcements. It turns out that Irie had already been married to Spanner no more than four months ago and along with the blonde's adopted brother, they set back to King Reborn's palace just in time to celebrate Yuletide. During the many dances one night, a young boy no older than 8 had come up to Tsuna, asking for a dance. The brunette had reluctantly accepted and was swept off his feet onto the dance floor. That young boy, though he bore no resemblance to Spanner in any way, was the man's youngest brother.

"He's only six, please forgive his rudeness." The blonde apologized. Tsuna nodded,

"He wasn't being rude at all, Spanner-san."

Irie spent the evening with a young boy, also. One that looked strikingly similar to the blonde duke in almost every way possible. He had a bright personality for one his age and clung onto the apprentice like a second skin.

"You know, I'm going to become the head chef in this palace some day." The boy gloated,

"Calvano! Don't say such things." Irie scolded. The young blonde only smiled,

"Don't worry, Shou-chan! When I work here, I won't forget to bring you here and feed you too!" he gave the red head a toothy grin. Tsuna could only look and silently laugh at the blush rising on Irie's cheeks,

"Th-that's not the point, Calvano." Calvano chose to ignore the red head and turned his attention back to Tsuna,

"But also, when I grow older, I must have an orange cat for a pet."

"Why is that?" the brunette asked,

"Because you can't have a gold cat." The small blonde stated, "So that means I can't have one, so I must have an orange one." And although the brunette didn't quite understand, he wished Calvano the best of luck in the future. Only later with the help of Irie did he realize that orange and gold were the boy's most favoured colors.

Near the end of the night, the king had unexpectedly showed up in front of Tsuna and held out his hand. His lips were pulled into a smirk as soft music poured into the room,

"May I have a dance with you?" the king asked, stretching out his hand even further. Doe eyes stared at him intently,

"A-ah, yes." Tsuna agreed. He slipped his hand into the other man's and the king held onto it firmly. They spun across the marble floor, hand in hand, with the melody and the crowd made way for them.

"You've improved." King Reborn commented. The brunette's cheeks were painted a light pink hue as he thanked the other. The song ended shortly after and the ruler mysteriously disappeared behind one of the doors in the ballroom, leaving Tsuna stranded in the midst of all the people. It wasn't that he minded being left so suddenly, he was okay with it. What refused to leave his mind was the small frown that had been plastered onto the monarch's expression the entire time they danced. He had worked so hard on his dancing and yet the only words of praise the king had offered him were, 'you've improved.' Tsuna walked towards Irie slowly, was he really disappointed because of that?

'_The king merely sees you as another mistress to bed.'_ A voice inside his head whispered, '_An amusing toy for the purpose of being played with.'_ The brunette whipped his head around and desperately sought for someone that might have been whispering in his ear. No one was behind him. '_Oya, is the little one in denial? You don't need to be, he's becoming distant to you, is he not? Look at the way he left you suddenly, he wouldn't have dared leave your side before.'_ Tsuna's eyes widened at the words,

"Stop it..." he voiced almost soundlessly, "Don't say anymore..!" his feet were now glued to the ground, not moving a single inch. The voice slowly ebbed away but the cruel words were etched into his brain. A mistress. No, the king had no intention of making him his mistress. At least, that was what the doe eyed one believed. The ruler wasn't becoming distant, he was still the same. Nothing had changed. Nothing at all. With that thought in mind, Tsuna moved toward Irie again, a small smile forcing its way onto his once bitter features. He did not spot the monarch after that.

* * *

But Tsuna had begun to notice some things about the ruler that weren't supposed to be there. Like how easy it was to make him mad or how hard it was to keep him happy. Tsuna was always left alone in the king's room and the tension that never existed was beginning to build up more and more, creating a thick barrier between them. It really wasn't like King Reborn to be so cold towards Tsuna, but it was happening lately. The way the king snapped whenever he had asked one too many questions was scarier than he thought it to be. But it wasn't like it went on forever without a break. Oh no, not at all. The other only became moody after he came back from his paper work and at night just before they went to bed. And it wasn't even like they didn't make up. They took most of their time together, King Reborn making up to Tsuna. Which made Tsuna just a little more curious as to what happened whenever he wasn't around the dark haired ruler. And with his mind full of unanswered questions, he was going to ask him when the other was in his work room.

Tsuna stood outside the king's door with a heavy feeling inside of his chest. The king's apologies were nothing but empty words, he had known that ever since he first said it, so why did he keep going along with it? The brunette sighed for the umpteenth time that day and raised his hand into a fist to knock when he heard the sound of some kind of furniture falling over. "Get the fuck out of here!" he heard the monarch yell, followed by another crash. This time, it sounded like a vase of some sort. Curious as to what had happened, Tsuna's clumsily hands twisted the door open and he witnessed the king standing in the middle of his trashed room, panting heavily. His eyes were bloodshot and his face was twisted into a frown. King Reborn snapped his head towards the brunette's face and his face immediately darkened,

"I..." Tsuna started but found that his throat had tightened. He couldn't speak. The brunette swallowed and tried to start again, "I..." it was no use. He couldn't find the words to speak. The man glared at him,

"What are you doing here?" he asked as he took a few steps closer to the auburn eyed teen. Tsuna opened and closed his mouth. "I thought I told you to stay in our room." the king ground out through gritted teeth. He was staggering towards the other now and in the back of Tsuna's mind, something screamed at him to run away and deal with the other later. The other part, however, quietly chanted for him to stay put and explain to the king why he was here in the first place.

"I-I was just he-here to-" he was cut short by a blow across his face as Tsuna tried to explain the situation he was in. The brunette's hands flew to the place where he had previously been slapped and stared at his offender with honey eyes. His cheek stung a bit, to be honest, and this was the first time in so long that he had felt afraid of the ruler. Unknown feelings stirred inside of him as he felt the knot in his throat grow tighter. Just what was it though? Anger? No, it was something much more than just pure anger. It stung as much as his cheek did, so what was this abnormal feeling that stirred like a relentless storm inside of him? The latter's eyes widened as he came to the only possible conclusion: pain.

King Reborn must have known that Tsuna was never one to tolerate pain because when he looked at the others fear stricken face, his eyes softened a little. The anger he had boiling inside the pit of his stomach and chest had momentarily subsided as he took a look at his hand. How hard had he hit Tsuna? He took a step towards the brunette, who took a step back. "Tsuna..." the king said quietly, reaching his hand out to touch the other,

"Uh-" Tsuna stopped when the onyx eyed man placed his hand on top of his own and was leaning in. Hazel eyes widened at the sudden realization and he turned away, moving far out of the king's hold. "I-I'm so-sorry." he managed to stutter out. The monarch looked shocked at the soft apology but Tsuna continued anyway, "I-I'll wait for you in the room..." he muttered as he turned on his heels and walked away from the other as quickly as he could, before any tears threatened to fall out. The king stared at the teen's retreating form and sighed. He clenched his fists and ground his teeth together,

"This is all your fault." he whispered bitterly, "All your fault."

A pair of arms wrapped around the king's torso and the person laughed, "Oh? And how is it my fault?" he loosened his grip on the others waist and raised one hand to King Reborn's chest, all the while nuzzling into the back of his neck, "You would have done it eventually." he stopped to place a small kiss on the king's neck, "You know that better than anyone, 'Reborn'." he said mockingly. Another laugh escaped his lips when he found that the other wasn't retorting. The dark haired ruler frowned,

"Shut up!" he grabbed the arms that were wrapped around him and wrenched himself out of the others hold. He turned to face the smiling man, "If you hadn't come here, then this wouldn't have happened!" he yelled, the other man's fine face igniting his anger almost immediately. The other stopped smiling and gave the king a long, hard stare,

"Do you really think so?" he wrapped his fingers around the raven haired man's neck and pulled him in closer, their proximity almost unbearable. Their lips touched ever so slightly when the other spoke, "Or am I just an excuse for your actions?" their lips met for a fleeting kiss and the onyx haired man made no move to return it, nor did he make a move to pull away. He pulled away and leaned in to kiss the onyx eyed man's collar bone, "You know, I like Tsunayoshi-kun too..." he confessed. The ruler stifled a hiss when the other bit down on his clavicle.

"You've liked him since you knew him..." King Reborn said crossly. He didn't like where this conversation was heading. The man looked up at him and smiled,

"And you know I'd do anything to have him..." his hands ghosted over the king's chest and down to his hips, "Even if it means getting rid of people like you." he whispered. The man frowned,

"You're not separating us, Byakuran." he concluded.

**OoOoO**

Tsuna walked through the corridor, holding his cheek tenderly. His breath hitched multiple times which earned a few looks from the maids and servants. Not that it mattered to him, he just wanted the warm comfy bed that he was subject to for the past month or so. With the his head in the clouds, Tsuna continued on his way and didn't notice the person standing in front of him until their heads collided and each stumbled backwards a couple of steps. He muttered an apology almost subconsciously and made a move to get up but stopped when he felt the others eyes on him. "Tsunayoshi-kun?" he looked up to see who it was. Red hair, green eyes, worried expression. Yep, it was none other than Irie. The first one he had openly spoke to when he came here.

Such melancholy memories tore his heart apart as he thought of the last time he talked to Kyoko and his parents and everyone else in the small ranch. But there's always sweet in something bitter. Tsuna had met on the first night here, and everybody else after that. Maybe it wasn't so bad, "Tsunayoshi-kun?" Irie called out again. Tsuna's eyes met with the other teen's emerald ones for a second before his face broke out into a small, soft smile.

"Hey, Shouichi!" he greeted happily and immediately winced when his smile widened a bit too much. The spiky haired one immediately noticed the worry cast on the red head's face growing darker and darker with each passing second.

"Tsunayoshi-kun... what happened?" Irie questioned and the smile on Tsuna's face disappeared. He looked away,

"N-Nothing, nothing at all." he tried to convince the other, and himself in the process. It was vain though, for Irie's facial expressions showed no signs of believing him whatsoever.

"Something happened." he deadpanned and Tsuna could hear the seriousness in his voice escalating to unknown levels. His nervous laugh erupted from deep within his strained throat and Tsuna shook his head. He didn't have the courage to speak about the single slap that sent his world into a tumbling mess. Thinking about King Reborn now seemed like nothing more than a dream to him. The red head in front of him only frowned more, "Why is your face red, then?" he questioned and Tsuna found no eligible excuse for it.

"B-because..." he tried to start and found himself at the end of the road. What was he supposed to say to his dear friend? That he walked in on the king breaking down and the other had slapped him? He could never say that.

Irie's eyes softened a little as he saw the pain from whatever memory was going through Tsuna's mind flash across his face briefly. Maybe he had been a bit too harsh on the other, asking such questions out of nowhere. Deciding to put the brunette out of his discomfort, Irie proposed a small idea, "Want to come to our room and talk a little bit?" he asked, adding a smile in which Tsuna gladly returned, though a bit more carefully this time,

"Okay."

**OoOoO**

Tsuna sat on the soft mattress that was meant for Irie and Spanner and plopped backwards onto the bed when the red head sat down in front of him. The two shared a brief moment of silence before the honey eyed boy decided to break it, "So how are you and Spanner?" he asked, eyes resting on the small crack in the ceiling. He heard the red head sigh,

"We're not even talking to each other anymore." he said quietly; his voice sounded so remorseful that Tsuna mentally cringed. Auburn eyes looked back to the green eyed teen who was now slouching while pressing his knees to his chest. Maybe it was a bit too early to bring up the subject of him and Spanner. The brunette sat back up and leaned over to touch Irie's shoulder,

"Give him some time. I'm sure he's trying to think of something to say to you." he tried to encourage but found that it only worsened the others' mood. The green eyed doll turned his head to the side and closed his eyes, even though he knew Tsuna couldn't see the small movement.

"It doesn't matter now." he whispered more to himself than to Tsuna. "But enough about me," he concluded, "you're lying to me about your cheek." he looked up with emerald eyes that seemed to pierce through Tsuna's very soul and the brunette knew that he wouldn't be able to lie to get out of it anymore, nor would luck be on his side. Casting his honey eyes to the ground, Tsuna softly stroked his own cheek and opened his mouth to speak,

"Well..." he started and bit his lip to keep from crying out.

The first thing that came to Irie's mind was how tears could look so perfect, even when they were falling for all the wrong reasons. And now here he was, laying down beside his friend, with an arm wrapped around the others' torso, while Tsuna was crying his eyes out into his shoulder. He honestly felt bad for the other, being slapped by the king and all, but did he know the consequences of being a witness to one of the king's rampages? The red head only hoped that the king's love for the lithe brunette would stop him from doing something harsh. But hope only went half the way, Tsuna needed to know just how much king Reborn loved him before the king did something irrational that could possibly hurt their bond with each other.

It was obvious that their bond was stronger than anyone else' and maybe that was why Irie's throat would feel strained every time he saw them together. They made it obvious to the world while they, themselves had no idea just how much they had fallen for each other. Irie's fell on the brunette next to him who had fallen asleep in the midst of his bawling. Was it too much to ask for that the red head wanted to be more like Tsuna? He wanted to be more sheltered instead of being given up on by his parents, he wanted to be more innocent and unaware of the outside world instead of having a history with witnessing one too many blood shed scenes, but most of all, he wanted to feel that small fluttering feeling in his stomach when his unrequited love was returned, instead of watching the one he was infatuated with occupy his mind with his friend. Irie fell asleep with a bitter smile gracing his lips while the thought of being selfish never strayed too far from his mind.

Irie woke up to a small shuffling noise and groaned when he couldn't feel his arm. He rubbed his eyes with his free hand and stopped when he cracked an eye open wide enough to look around him. Too bad his eyes landed on the other man that was awake in the room. The man stood in front of him awkwardly, "Hey, Shouichi." he greeted and the red head forced out a reply,

"Uh, good afternoon, Spanner." that was all the small talk they had managed so far for the past week and a half. By the time Irie was fully awake, Spanner had managed to scribble something down on a piece of paper, and was walking out the door without even a single word of goodbye. The red head stared at the paper on the desk and made a move to get up, without waking the brunette. Once that was accomplished, said teen looked down at the piece of paper (which was clearly directed to him since Spanner had stolen a few glances at him while he was writing it):

_Shouichi,_

_Meet me in the garden when you're free._

_-Spanner_

Strange, it wasn't like Spanner to ask the emerald eyed teen to meet him somewhere by writing a note. But no matter, he was free right now so he could probably see him in the garden right now. The emerald eyed doll took out a fresh piece of paper and wrote on it:

_Tsunayoshi,_

_Something came up so I had to go, you can leave whenever you wish or stay for as long as you want._

_-Shouichi_

**OoOoO**

The red head stared at the geta sandals that he had been forced to wear along with the many silk kimonos since he arrived at Spanner's household. _'It's because I'm Japanese.'_ he thought to himself. He was currently on his way to the garden while his head was in the clouds. Questions like 'What does he want?' and 'Why is he acting so strange?' kept interrupting his thoughts. When he set foot on the garden however, his train of thoughts halted immediately. Spanner was laying around with his hands behind his head and a sucker in his mouth, how typical. His eyes were also closed, but Irie had only realized that when he stood in front of the other and the blonde made no move to get up or even speak to him. Deciding to wait for the nobleman to come around, the teen sat down and automatically started to pull at the dead grass around him.

A hand grasped the back of his obi and pulled him backwards into the awaiting arms of a man that was sleeping just seconds ago. Irie felt the warm tingly feeling start up again in the pit of his stomach and blushed when he realized how close he was with Spanner. His arms were pressed against the man's chest and his head was just below the others' chin, nestled quite comfortably in his neck I might add. "Hey." Irie heard Spanner breathe out, "I have something to tell you." He confessed and the sucker slid from one side of his mouth to the other causing a small 'clack' sound to resonate around the two. The red head remained silent and unconsciously took in the scent of the nobleman before him, he always smelled good for some odd reason. He always seemed to smell like cinnamon with a hint of coffee beans or something of the like.

"Oh." The red head found that was all he could say at the moment. Spanner's breathing was so steady and so was his heartbeat. In no time at all, Irie could feel his face heat up yet again when Spanner's hands wrapped tightly around his waist and pulled him closer if possible.

"Yeah."

Spanner laughed quietly and hummed into the red head's hair. Spanner always thought that red hair suited him. "So... what did you want to tell me?" the other asked quietly before moving into a more comfortable position. Spanner sucked on his lollipop as he thought of a way to tell him before saying,

"Before that, I need you to promise me not to tell anyone." and waited for the other to respond. He had decided that if the other said anything along the lines of a 'Yes', then Spanner would find the most efficient way to break it down for him and if it was something like a 'No', then Spanner would just walk away... it was simple enough, right? The few seconds that the blonde was forced to wait felt like hours and he was beginning to panic a bit. That was until he heard the bespectacled teen speak up,

"Okay." that was all he needed to know. And out of nowhere, the blonde bent down to Irie's eye level and claimed his lips in a soft, sweet kiss. _'Just in case he ends up hating me.' _he thought to himself when he began to feel the other return it, _'Then I'll have known what his lips felt like.'_ They broke apart and Spanner looked down into shining emerald eyes before smiling a little bit, fully expecting the small gesture to be returned. And it was, but it was more like an embarrassed smile than anything else, not that Spanner minded,

"Alright. In truth, I'm..."

**OoOoO**

Tsuna sleepily rubbed at his eyes when he woke up and looked around the room, in search of his warmth that had mysteriously disappeared while he was asleep. The dull pain in his cheek throbbed just a bit more than earlier and his honey eyes softened. After spotting the note on Irie's desk, Tsuna had decided that he was too much of a burden for his red headed friend and that he had told King Reborn that he would be back in their room waiting for him, and left immediately.

As the auburn eyed doll strolled down the hallway, he thought about the split second of fear that flashed across the monarch's eyes when he touched his cheek. That memory alone made him cringe and shiver. It was almost unbearable to not look at the other anymore but Tsuna had a feeling that the slap would somehow traumatize him into temporarily halting his affectionate actions towards Reborn. Maybe, just maybe, if he could get past that point, then there wouldn't be anything to be afraid of. Tsuna would no longer feel scared of him, they wouldn't have to start back at square one, and he would be able to figure out what triggered King Reborn's anger like that. But all hope was lost when he heard a loud thud coming from their room and he ran the rest of the way there before stopping right of in front of the door to catch his breath. He twisted the door open and his heart dropped just a little bit more. Not to mention that it was completely broken into one million and two pieces.

The sight was something to behold. King Reborn was sitting up against the wall with an unknown man in between his legs. Their lips were connected in a heated kiss and the others' hair seemed to be wet. Tsuna couldn't believe it. The words 'I love you' really were a lie. The charcoal haired man's arm was secured around the other man's waist while his free hand was tangled in the white, messy hair of the man in front of him. The man with the white hair however, had his hands pressed against the king's chest, almost as if he was rejecting him. They broke apart and King Reborn's hand went lower, settling upon the bare shoulder of where the man's silk white kimono should have been. Their lips were touching again, barely, "Byakuran..." Tsuna heard him say quietly, deeply, seductively. The man, Byakuran, only let out a strangled cry and pouted a bit.

"You're so harsh." he commented. Tsuna's legs seemed to give way under him as he stumbled back in a mess of wet fluids that seemed to flow out so easily. Tears streamed down his face as he tried to stand up as quietly as possible, without being noticed by the king or Byakuran. Stumbling yet again, he sought the wall for some support and became oblivious to the two heads that whipped around to look at him,

"Tsuna..." The ruler whispered and the brunette swore that he stopped breathing. Trying to regain his composure as quickly as he could, Tsuna stood up straight and avoided all eye contact with the duo in the room. Reborn had forced Byakuran off by now because he could hear footsteps coming closer and closer towards him, "Patience..."

Why did he call him Patience? Just _how much_ did they look alike? First Patience and now Byakuran, the only one who didn't seem to be understanding why King Reborn had done this was Tsuna himself. His voice was louder now and hazel eyes darted around in a desperate attempt to find a place to hide. It was too late. By now, the dark haired ruler had his hand clasped on his shoulder, the same hand that was feeling Byakuran, and was forcing him to turn around. When Tsuna refused to meet his eye, the king grabbed the sides of his face and forcibly pulled him to his eye level. The tears wouldn't stop. Tsuna had no idea what to do now. The happiness and relief that he had when he first met King Reborn up until now were replaced with sorrow and regret. He was left with a bitter thought that felt like the plague, it was _that _unpleasant. The king never wanted him, he never had a chance. It was all his foolish thinking that the king wanted to be engaged in something serious with him. That thought left his _world_ broken in a million and _three_ pieces.

Choking back a strangled cry, Tsuna turned away from him,

"Excuse me!" he cried as he tore himself away from the other and blindly ran off.


	6. Chapter 6

First thing I'd like to do is apologize to the people who've been waiting for me to update this. This is getting ridiculous, I haven't updated this for about five months and I just realized that. I am so sorry if this isn't what you had in mind but like the summary's stated, it's been under some editing. A lot of things have been edited out and added in, so it might get confusing in this chapter. Also, I combined the chapters together so that they were longer (hard cussing work _) and then wrote this one right after I edited the entire story thus far. It took me 3 days to get this chapter done T_T

And I know, you're probably thinking, "What the hell has she been doing?" WEEEEEELLLLL, for starters, I had school =_= and I was kinda sorta involved with farewell so I couldn't exactly do anything about it :( Hmph, but yeah, I graduated from grade 8, registered in a high school, and then got a school supplies list or a watchamacallit for grade 9. And then I got involved with some guy (BLEGHHH) that lasted for like... idk a few months at school and then most of July T_T (not that I dated him, we just had a thing). Then my surprise birthday party happened and I had no time for this, friends kept asking me to hang out, my aunt and uncle moved away so I had to help with packing and all this other stuff. T_T And that's not all! By the end of July, I was packing for Edmonton to see the Jade Buddha. Ohh, it was such an amazing experience, I absolutely loved it so much! But yeah, I stayed there for nearly a week and got back here and I've been editing this story since.

So~ please forgive me for any mistakes?

And to those who really don't want to go back and reread this goddamn story, here's what I added:

_New characters (OCs)- Alejandro and Calvano. Alejandro is Reborn's personal tailor so he doesn't exactly play a major role in here. But Calvano is Spanner's adoptive brother and really likes to talk to Shou-chan and Tsu-kun ;)_

_Italian!: Yeah... so... Tsuna knows how to speak Italian now because he has a tutor that taught both him and Yamacchi ^_^_

_Yuletide: so after the whole Italian thing, they celebrated Yuletide- which, I don't know what it is in Italian, but that's the OLD OLD OLD OLD OLD English way of saying, Christmas. Or something close to it ^_~_

_BYAKURAN BEING A SLUT: Yeah, because this is a fic and he can be one ;D Kidding~ It's because he has to act like one for the sake of the story... it's just not fun if he isn't =_=_

_Bits and pieces of Tsunayoshi's childhood ^^;_

_How Spanner and Irie's engagement came to be xD  
_

_**~I think I'm forgetting something...~**  
_

* * *

Reborn stared at his hands and then at the retreating back, drifting further and further away from him with every passing second. He reached one hand out as if trying to pull the figure back into his arms and managed a strangled cry,

"Tsuna!" his hands shook. His whole being shook. He needed to tell the other what was going on. The kiss meant nothing, the slap wasn't from him, and he had no intention of scolding the brunette. But it was all fruitless; Tsuna wasn't going to come back on his own. Reborn would have to force him back. Back to him, back into his arms where he was destined to be.

"Oya, is that boy really the reason for you distress?" Byakuran asked, emerging from the room. The monarch's eyes sought his,

"You." He hissed. "Why do you keep doing this?" Reborn bellowed, throwing his hands up in the air. Byakuran's lips curled upward into a teasing smile,

"This? And what exactly is this, your _majesty_?" the white haired man emphasized the word majesty and the ruler scowled even more. When no answer came from Reborn, Byakuran pulled the sleeve of his kimono over his bare shoulder and laughed, "My, don't tell me you didn't enjoy our moment just because you were forced to do it." He stepped toward the onyx haired man and gently stroked his cheek, "You have an uncontrollable lust, _Reborn._ And if little Patience can't help you with it, why not let me come to your aid?" Byakuran questioned. The king pulled away from his grasp,

"You're not the same." He answered, his shaky hands balling into fists, "You and Patience aren't the same."

"Why not just close your eyes then? Surely we would feel the same." Reborn stared at the man before him and growled. Did Byakuran not comprehend that they weren't the same people? He would never allow himself to be with another person by will.

"I would never do such a thing." The king stated boldly. Byakuran only laughed and wrapped his arms around the ruler's neck. Reborn turned his head away from him,

"Ah, but you already have." The other voiced. The king's eyes widened at the words. He shook his head, having no recollection of what Byakuran was saying. The other only placed a kiss on the crook of his neck, "Do you not remember?" the white haired man questioned. His hands were moving to Reborn's face now, turning his attention to him,

"It never happened." Reborn said, shaking uncontrollably. Byakuran raised his head and violet eyes met deep onyx ones. In an instant, the white haired man's entire pupil filled his eyes,

"Yes, it did, Reborn." He stared into the king's eyes and soon, Reborn's pupils became a light grey. The ruler shook again, trying to get away from Byakuran. It was no use; he could feel himself losing his consciousness to the purple eyed man before him. No, he couldn't be losing himself at such an important time. He needed to get to Tsuna. To Patience. "The more you fight it, the stronger it will be." Byakuran informed him in a playful voice.

"Curse... curse you." He whispered before his eyelids closed unwillingly. His muscles tensed up and he automatically wrapped his arms around Byakuran waist, placing a kiss on his matted hair. Byakuran smiled to himself,

"That's right, _Reborn_, shower me with all the love you have for Patience."

"I will." Reborn muttered against the other man's hair. This triggered Byakuran's laugh,

"You know, I like Tsunayoshi-kun _a lot._" He un-wrapped his arms from the man's neck and touched their foreheads together. His pupils returned to his original state and not long after, Reborn opened his eyes. It was the same black color from before. "But I think I like you more." The king did not utter a word but silenced him with a kiss. He licked Byakuran's bottom lip, as if asking for entrance and lightly bit on it. The other happily obliged and parted his lips, letting Reborn's tongue slip in roughly. Their tongues clashed in a heated battle for dominance and Byakuran willingly lost, allowing the king to explore as much of the cavern as he wished. They parted for air and Reborn placed a chaste kiss on the latter's forehead.

"Byakuran..." he whispered. Said man smirked to himself,

"It's easy, no? Let go of Patience, come to me." he pulled away from the ruler's grasp and held his hand tenderly, "I can fulfil your needs, Wrath." With Reborn's hand in his, Byakuran led him into the work room, not forgetting to close the door afterwards. The king followed him around the room obediently until they both reached the window. The white haired lad looked outside and motioned for the other to come by his side, "Do you see this vast land before you, Wrath?"

"Yeah."

"You own it. You command it." Byakuran turned his attention to the monarch, "You could yield so much power yet you spent nearly two decades looking for Patience." his fingers gently grazed across Reborn's neckline, "And it's rather sad, since he has no recollection of you at all. So why not just abandon him and stay with me instead? Make me your mistress." Byakuran suggested, his voice falling to a taunting whisper near the end. Reborn took hold of the wandering hand and kissed his palm,

"Patience has forgotten who he is. Yet his body still entices me for eternity." the king answered, lips moving against the soft skin. Byakuran let out an inaudible gasp, his eyes widening for a split second before returning to it's calm demeanour and offered the king a sweet smile,

"I guess even the deepest of spells can't put out that burning feeling for Patience." he mused, withdrawing his hand, "But no matter, this is what I was ordered to do. I need to carry it out until the very end." the white haired man said to himself. He looked back out the window and smirked to himself, _'I wonder how they'll manage.'_

Reborn moved behind Byakuran and wrapped his hands around the man, taking in the beautiful scent. It was different from what he had usually felt in his arms, the smell wasn't as gentle and kind as what he was accustomed to. But just what had he grown so used to? Had Patience ever allowed him to embrace him so openly? The raven haired man bitterly closed his eyes. No, Patience didn't want to be seen in public with him at all. Not intimately.

_Patience frantically looked around for Wrath, his breath hitching in his throat every now and then. Gasping for air, he screamed out the other man's name,_

"_Wrath!" he pulled at his hair frustratedly and tears stained his porcelain cheeks. Wrath looked away, not wanting to see the turmoil he had created for his love. "Don't leave me..." he heard Patience whisper, voice cracking pitifully._

"_I'm not." he whispered back, knowing the other wouldn't be able to hear him. He had already concealed himself within the shadows of the trees. "But our love is forbidden. Two opposing titles cannot love each other." Wrath reminded himself. His heart felt heavy, he wanted to envelope the other once more before parting ways, but it all seemed impossible now. In front of him, Patience lifted his head up,_

"_D'angelo... D'angelo can help me!" he abruptly stood up, "D'angelo always knows what to do! I have to... I have to find D'angelo!" Patience drew in a shaky breath and pushed some of his hair back, "He can strike a deal with Zeus. He's the only one that can." he said to himself. His feet slowly moved toward the bridge and he continued to mumble to himself, sniffling as he went on. Wrath's hands formed into fists. Did Patience not understand the position he was in? With his title, he was not obligated to ask a man of higher status for such a lousy favour. But he continued to stand there, watching Patience stagger off into the castle in search of D'angelo, knowing the other was too emotionally drained to even attempt to run. Wrath hated himself for this but there was no other way. If they had continued to see each other, their titles would have been in danger. _They_ would have been in danger._

"_Patience." the name rolled off of his tongue lovingly. Wrath closed his eyes and tried to remember the times his love had discreetly smiled affectionately at him in public. They were never allowed to be together with other people around, that was just how heaven was. But at night, oh those heated nights Wrath spent with his love, were all beautiful memories embedded deeply in his mind. Alas, they were only memories and could no longer become reality. Wrath continued to stare at the retreating back remorsefully and turned the other way, "It's all for the best." he muttered. His words held no truth._

Reborn's eyes snapped open as he let go of Byakuran. The painful memory flooded back into his senses and he bit back a scream. It hurt. Images tore through his mind and forced its way inside. His hands found their way to his head and he clutched it harshly. He couldn't stop all the images from coming in no matter how hard he tried. He could see Tsuna's precious smile, glowing eyes, pale skin, soft lips, and loving smile. Reborn's legs gave way under him and he soon found himself doubled over on the floor. The images danced around his mind for a while before showing a more delicate side of Tsuna. His hair was a tangled mess and his tears showed clearly, flowing down his cheeks. He looked fragile. No, he _was _fragile,

"He still is." Reborn managed to say between his panting.

In an instant, Byakuran was by his side, rubbing circles on his back and whispering in his ear,

"My, this is getting rather out of hand." Reborn turned onto his back and his body arched in the air, twitching as the images continued to rake at his brain. His head fell on Byakuran's lap and the other smiled to himself. "I suppose I should help." he said aloud, "But I'm the sadistic type that likes to watch powerful people like you fall."

"Mhmph!" was all Reborn could muster before shutting his eyes entirely and letting the images invade him. His whole body shook from the force. Before long, the king felt a pair of lips press against his temple and the pain subsided. The images still came on like a relentless storm, but the pain was gone. Byakuran's lips trailed the side of his head down to his cheek bone and his pink tongue slipped out,

"But D'angelo would give me quite the earful if I didn't.." the white haired man voiced. He withdrew his tongue and smiled at Reborn with slightly downcast eyes. The king's eyes held a blank look and shook ever so slightly.

"Patience..." Reborn breathed, "Patience..." he whispered the name quietly, almost pleadingly. The ruler gasped loudly, his pupils dilating before he could take no more and screamed. Byakuran merely held the other man's head in his lap and smirked,

"The images should be haunting you right now." he said to himself, "It should be unbearable for you to see such a pained expression on Patience' face, knowing that you're the cause of it." He moved his left hand so that it covered Reborn's eyes and laughed, "It's a shame that it turned out this way, Wrath. I would have loved to control your whole being."

"Ngh..!" Reborn's hands clawed at the other man's hand in a desperate attempt to pry it away from his eyes. Byakuran stared at him in amusement,

"Shh, Wrath. Don't put up such a fight, I'm putting you to sleep here. But whether or not those images subside is up to you." he whispered to the other. Reborn slowly withdrew his hands from the other and soon remained quiet. When the white haired man removed his hand, the monarch's eyes were closed and his eyebrows were furrowed angrily. Byakuran could only laugh, "No need to get so angry with me. Patience asked for a deal, I'm just helping you two fulfil it."

Tsuna stared at the clear blue sky with a sorrowful expression. All this time, he had been so engrossed in his own thoughts that he never stopped to think about how the king had sincerely felt about him. It was hard to admit it, but the ruler never looked at Tsuna the way he wished he had. Pulling his knees up to his chest and resting his arms on them, the brunette closed his eyes and let the tears slip out quietly. Why did he feel so torn? He had only come to the palace as a form of payment for his village.

"Just an item..." Tsuna whispered to himself. That's right, he was just a villager, what could he ever amount to? The tears gushed out more violently now and Tsuna drew in shaky breaths. His blurry eyes took in the scenery around him. The statue stood tall and proud in front of him and the bridge connecting the two vast lands was near it. In the midst of his depression, Tsuna's feet had somehow carried him to the garden that King Reborn had shown him months prior. He could still recall the times the monarch had abruptly pulled him here after his lessons just to sneak a few kisses before attending to his meetings. But it was all different now. He could no longer see King Reborn in the same light.

Warm hands wrapped around Tsuna's torso and a soft chuckle erupted from the figure, startling him. The brunette looked behind him, shocked that there was another person in the garden. The boy had blonde hair and his emerald eyes shown with a childlike innocence.

"Hehe," he grinned at Tsuna, "What are you doing here, Tsu-chan?" he asked. Tsuna looked at the boy for a bit before realizing who it was,

"Calvano!" The hazel eyed teen sounded, astonished to find Spanner's adopted brother in the garden, "What are you doing here by yourself?" Calvano only smiled in response and let go of Tsuna, going around him so that he now faced the brunette.

"Shou-chan's busy with his work and Spanner's with him. I was bored with them because they didn't talk to me so Spanner told me to go to the garden and find out how many trees were here, how many blue, red, yellow, orange, purple, and pink flowers were here, and how many koi fish lived in the pond." Calvano informed him. Tsuna could only feel sorry for the boy. He had been tricked without even knowing it. Just like him. Sniffling, the brunette brought a sleeve up to wipe his tears away. He shouldn't be thinking about such a trivial matter at the moment. Children hated that.

"So, Calvano, how many were there for all of it?" he questioned, lowering his eyes so that the younger blonde didn't notice his red eyes. Calvano placed a finger on his chin and thought for a long while before snapping his fingers and smiling triumphantly,

"There are 493 trees on this side alone so that leaves the other side with 197 because there's only enough to surround the back of the castle. Red flowers are easy because there are a lot of roses here so that makes it 1 390 red flowers if you want to count the other side too. If not, then it's only 738. There're 864 blue flowers if you count both sides of the garden, and since they also have tons of sunflowers here, that equals up to 962 yellow flowers." he stopped to take a breath and Tsuna found this the appropriate time to stop the young boy,

"Wait, Calvano, I didn't actually mean you should—"  
"Pink and orange flowers are kind of hard to find here, but when you do, wow! There sure are lots! That means that there's 629 pink and 742 orange ones. Most of the purple flowers are still blooming but they still have tons here! There's actually 783 buds and 294 purple flowers." Calvano abruptly stopped again, his face scrunching up into an unpleasant expression as if trying to remember something. Tsuna couldn't help a small smile from gracing his features,

"Oh yeah! I was counting the koi fish and got up to 284 but then I saw you so I stopped counting!" the blonde boy shouted, pointing a finger at the brunette. Auburn eyes stared at the smaller boy in front, forgetting about his bloodshot eyes. Calvano's eyes widened when he caught sight of the sad eyes in front of him and a determined look was cast onto his face, "Y-You can't cry because of that!"

"Eh?"

"D-don't cry because you made me lose track of the koi..." Calvano muttered quietly, "It's really okay, I can just count it again so you don't need to cry, alright?" his innocent eyes bore into Tsuna's and the brunette smiled a little bit. The boy had no idea Tsuna had been crying beforehand.

"Ok." The brunette wiped the rest of his tears and sniffled a bit, "I won't cry." Upon hearing those words, Calvano beamed,

"Good! Ah, but now you have to come with me and count the koi fish because I'll be lonely if you don't." he grabbed at Tsuna's hands and held them in his smaller ones. Flashing the brunette a sweet smile, Calvano pulled the other up and dragged him to the bridge.

"Ah, wait, Calvano. Are you sure Spanner-san and Irie-kun won't be worried about you if you're gone for too long?" Tsuna asked, suddenly worried. The younger boy shook his head,

"They told me to go." he reminded the auburn eyed doll. "Now come on, let's count!" he dragged the older one to the edge and climbed onto the railing,

"Be careful!" The brunette yelled, reaching out toward Calvano. The boy merely waved him off and sat down,

"It's OK, I was doing this before too." he pointed to a seemingly random fish, "But just so you know, I already counted that one. It's number 89." the blonde boy informed Tsuna, his emerald eyes gleaming with pride.

"Haa..." Tsuna nodded and looked over the bridge, into the clear water. Maybe he could forget about the king for the time being. Just for Calvano. At that time, the brunette allowed himself a soft smile, forcing the corners of his lips just a bit too high for his liking because he had no idea what to do at the moment. Tsuna leaned further into the railing and pointed at a koi fish,

"How about that one?" he asked, looking at one with silky fins. It was mostly white but had parts of black across it's body. Calvano hummed,

"That's number 3." the blonde said dismissively. "Ah, and that one's number 28!" he looked at a yellow koi, swimming around with a large tail fin. "That's one of my favourites. But... number 1," Calvano showed Tsuna a completely orange, almost gold coloured koi with no other pattern on it, "is my absolute favourite. He's so pretty and gold."

That afternoon went by for Tsuna as he looked around for a fish that Calvano might have missed. It was no use, the younger boy had seen them and had counted them all. By the time they overlooked the entire pond twice, the total had come up to 284.

"You said you lost track of counting," Tsuna mentioned, "but the number is the same." Calvano stared hard at the river,

"I thought I did." he frowned, "There has to be another one here!" the blonde boy shouted, desperately searching for another fish that he didn't seem to recognize. Tsuna sighed and perched his elbow on the rail and rested his chin on his palm. His mind absentmindedly trailed back to the king. What was he doing now? How come he didn't show up at the garden today? Who was that man that was with him? The brunette sighed again for the umpteenth time that day, fighting back the urge to let his tears slip out on him. He looked harder into the water, seeing as Calvano was trying his best to find a fish, and out of the corner of his eye, he spotted something. It's body was blue, with a patch of white that covered it's right eye and a light purple line ran down it's spine.

"Calvano..." Tsuna called out. Said boy turned to him, "Is that a koi fish?" he asked? Calvano stared long and hard at it before breaking out into a cheeky smile,

"Hehe, it sure looks like one!" he beamed, "But... why is it blue?" The blonde boy questioned. The brunette merely shrugged,

"I've never seen a blue koi before." Tsuna responded. He turned his head so that he could look at Calvano in the eye, "We should head back now, Calvano-kun. Irie-kun and Spanner-san might be worried." Tsuna pushed himself off of the rail and helped the blonde. The younger boy had a smile that one could simply not wipe off and he hugged Tsuna's waist,

"Will you play with me tomorrow too?" he asked quietly. A gentle breeze swept by and tickled at the brunette's cheeks. He placed one hand on the latter's blonde locks and awkwardly stroked his hair,

"Y-Yeah. I'll come by tomorrow too." he answered, withdrawing his hand from the silky locks and offering the younger boy a smile. He let go of Tsuna with a devious smile. Calvano held his hand and dragged him into the palace like a rag doll, exclaiming to the brunette that he had to be with him when he told Spanner and Irie about the blue fish.

"They'll be shocked! I just know it! That's why you have to be there with me, Tsu-chan! You can laugh at them with me too!" He continued to tug at the arm as he walked down the corridor. Tsuna looked at the back of Calvano's head with a shocked expression,

"C-Calvano, I don't think that's a very good idea..." Tsuna said.

"It's okay! Just follow me! And then after we tell them, we can go eat together!" he chuckled to himself before turning his head around to look at the brunette, offering the other a cheeky grin, "I can cook really well!" Calvano bragged. Tsuna's expression softened as he returned the smile and nodded,

"Alright. Let's go see Irie-kun and Spanner-san."

Reborn awoke in his own bed with a slim figure resting by his side. Pain coursed through his head and the king found himself cradling it almost pitifully. The figure beside him sat up and wrapped one arm loosely around his waist,

"Does it hurt?" he asked. Reborn leaned into the touch and shook his head,

"Byakuran..." the king cast a heated stare at the other and moved his hands from his face. Tsuna's saddened expression almost seemed to be an illusion now that he felt so calm. Reborn drew in a shaky breath and closed his eyes. "Patience... how is he?" he asked Byakuran. He heard the other laugh, the sound ringing in his ears pleasantly.

"Don't think about him right now. Do you know how jealous someone can get?" the king felt two slightly smaller hands hold onto the sides of his face, turning him toward the other man, "Don't talk about him when you're with me, _Wrath_." Byakuran purred. He touched their foreheads together and Reborn nodded,

"You're right. I'm sorry." he apologized, resting his hands on Byakuran's lap. Why was he worrying about Patience when Byakuran was right in front of him? He leaned in and pressed his lips against the latter's cheek. If Byakuran only made him serene, why had he continued to think about Patience day and night?

"Hehh, this is getting to be no fun." Byakuran complained. Reborn pulled away and looked at him with worry cast on his features. "You're not fully under my spell. I suppose you love him too much." he muttered to himself.

"What are you saying?" Reborn questioned, bringing his hands up to grasp the white haired man's shoulder, "Love who?" Byakuran put a finger to his own lips and smiled,

"Secret. And besides, you won't have any recollection of it even if I told you." he winked, "That's how spells work. Once someone casts it on you, you won't even know they did it."

"What are you—"

"Saa, I wonder how Patience is handling everything on his side." Byakuran voiced almost to himself. He glanced at the door with a smirk and rested his hands on Reborn's chest. The dark haired monarch continued to stare at him, frowning almost disapprovingly. Suddenly remembering that he still had paperwork to look at then discard, Reborn kissed Byakuran on the lips and slid off the bed,

"I'll talk to you later. I need to do some work." the man said. Byakuran followed him off the bed,

"Why can't I come with you?" he asked in a teasing tone. The white haired man lifted one finger up and gently skimmed it across Reborn's cheek, "Or is it too much to look after me?" he taunted, leaning into the king, touching their lips together ever so slightly. With a lightning fast movement, Byakuran moved away and licked the base of Reborn's neck, leaving a trail of saliva and butterfly kisses as he moved upward toward the king's ear.

"Byakuran..!" Reborn grunted, hands finding its way to Byakuran's slender hips and resting on them. The lavender eyed man reached the monarch's ear and aggressively licked the shell, biting the tip when his tongue had slid over the entire shell. This earned sharp gasp and only encouraged him to go further,

"Is it really a pain to let me be with you?" he enquired, whispering the words into Reborn's ear. The raven haired monarch responded by leaning over and biting Byakuran on the neck, nipping on it afterwards. Byakuran smiled to himself, knowing full well that the spell was going to break in a short while. And it did. For Reborn had stopped short and bolted upright, tearing his hands away from the intriguing body with a tinge of disgust.

"What..." he panted out, eyes widening with sudden realization, "What are you doing?" he hollered, throwing an arm out to grab the man in front of him, "Why must you always interfere?" Reborn hissed, shaking the latter by his shoulder. Byakuran's lips curled up into a knowing smile,

"I told you before. I'm the sadistic type that likes to see powerful people, like you, fall." he stared into the king's eyes with his lavender ones and his pupils filled his entire eye again, "But it's not like you mind, right? After all, Patience has no memory of loving you before and he always refuses you." Byakuran speculated. Reborn's eye was filled with his pupil yet again for a second or so before reverting back to it's original state. His eyebrows were furrowed together in a frown,

"Ye-Yeah..." he enunciated quietly. The man held his gaze on the king a while longer before frowning distinctively,

"So you've been trying to fight it off this entire time. Your subconscious still sees Patience as first priority. If you keep this up, you're only going to lose yourself Asarte." Byakuran hissed, grabbing the hand on his shoulder with a vice-like grip. "When and if that happens, your hopes of getting back together with Patience will be gone. Your soul would have been sold to Asarte and you would be swimming around in his fountain of unwanted souls." the white haired man glared at Reborn, "Do you really want that?" The king made no move to answer and this infuriated Byakuran even more, " If you don't, then just listen to me. Your precious Patience wouldn't be suffering so much if you had given in to me at the beginning. Thanks to you, I look like a bad guy." the white haired man complained. Reborn's body shook unconsciously and he shut his eyes. When he opened them, one was a light grey color, the other was onyx.

"You promise that Patience won't be hurt anymore?" the king questioned. Byakuran stood shocked by the look of determination in his eyes before regaining his posture and nodding,

"As long as you quit fighting against me and make me your mistress." the white haired man bargained. Reborn nodded, one eye closing timidly, leaving the black one open,

"Why would I make you my mistress though?" he questioned. The man in question looked at the monarch with an amused look,

"Test." Byakuran informed with a snicker. Reborn stared at the other suspiciously before closing both of his eyes and leaning into the white haired man.

"Just once." he whispered, "No more." Byakuran stroked the spiky black locks and nodded,

"One time is all it takes." he murmured. It would be another while before Reborn woke up again, Byakuran had concluded. That gave him enough time to think of a reason as to why he could only cast half of Reborn's form under a spell. Laying the body on the mattress in front of him, the white haired man looked out the window and frowned, "Their souls are connected in too deep of a bond for anyone to interfere." he deduced. "This is getting to be a real problem. I'm sick of dealing with Wrath's bullshit, acting like I like both him _and_ Patience." Byakuran phrased, almost sounding disgusted. He placed a hand on his lips and grimaced, "I need to wash up."


End file.
